


HTTYD-Star Wars: ECLIPSE

by vala411



Series: HTTYD-Star Wars: The Crystal Saga [4]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-28
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-03-25 00:34:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 32,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13822746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vala411/pseuds/vala411
Summary: Spin-off story of  HTTYD-Star Wars ARC 3: Dusk upon a Galaxy. This will tell the story of Hiccup's clone and his adventures throughout the Unknown Regions.





	1. Chapter 1

**HTTYD-Star Wars: Eclipse**

_A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…….._

The galaxy remains in a state of turmoil after the Galactic civil war came to an end. The semblance of peace is shattered as remnants of the former Galactic Empire are planning to make their last stand at Jakku.

But these are not the only events that unfold. In the vastness of space, on the edge of the Galaxy, Forces are coming together that will shape the future.

Will the remnants of the Empire succeed?  
Will the New Republic endure?  
Will the galaxy fall to an immense hunger?  
Or  
Will there be hope in the darkness of space?

There is only one way to find out…….  
It is a Journey into the Unknown

 

**Skaovis part 1**

_“Didn’t you hear me C473. Again!”_

_“Your secret weapon is a clone?”_

_“Why isn’t this guy doing anything?!”_

_“Who are you?” He could hear himself asking._

_“Someone you’ll be very grateful to later.” A female voice said._

_“You’ll probably never see the light of day again but who cares.”_

_A red and a purple lightsaber clashed._

Two different colored eyes opened with a start as the figure breathed heavily from the dream that he had just had. He could only recall snippets of it as a dim light on the ceiling illuminated the cage that he had been thrown into. The cold of the metal floor was seeping into him through the ragged layers of his once pristine black robes.

It was a small space, the cargo hold of a freighter. There were several more cages stacked against the grey and rusting hull. In them sat other humanoids, their looks despondent. He frowned as he could normally sense the emotions of other beings, yet not this time. It was then that he noticed the cool metal resting around his neck and silently cursed. That harpy had slipped on the Force suppression collar again when he had fallen unconscious. The ship shook slightly and he oddly wondered in what scrapheap he had landed.

Faint voices could be heard in another room as he tried to get out of the stuncuffs that bound his arms. The voices sounded rather cheery for what he supposed was a slaver ship.

He didn’t know how much time had passed as he had sat up and leaned against the bars, simply glancing at the dim flickering light. There wasn’t much he could do without his Force powers now. The other prisoners in the cages kept their heads down or averted their eyes when he glanced at them.

The steady tread of a pair of boots could soon be heard entering the cargo hold. He glanced to where the doors had wooshed open to see a muscled man with a grizzly beard walk in. The man kicked one of the nearby cages causing the woman in it to startle. His eyes narrowed at the man as he stood over the woman and leered. His gaze must have been noticed because the man turned to him a few seconds later with a scowl.

“What are ya looking at!” The man growled as he approached the cage. He merely shot a look that said ‘what do you think you idiot’. The man apparently didn’t like his gaze and grabbed him by the front of his robes. “Oh, I’ll have fun breaking you.” He chuckled while baring his crooked yellowing teeth. He looked at his captor disinterested while mentally he wanted to snap the man’s neck with the Force.

“You’ll fetch a lot of credits with those eyes of yours.” The man rambled on as he kept his hold on the robes. “Would be a shame to sell you to an organ dealer.”

“Sal quit playing with our cargo and get that damn droid!” Came from the door that had wooshed open again. “Alvin won’t be happy if you damaged the merchandise.”

Sal, as he was called, let loose of the clone’s robes before growling and stomping to the back. There were some clanging sounds and curses thrown before C473 raised a brow as a green-blue astromech droid was kicked forward. It looked like a fairly old model. He hadn’t even noticed that a droid had been hiding behind one of the cages. The droid looked as happy to be there as anyone else judging by the distressed beeping it gave off. Another kick followed as Sal yelled “Move it ya bucket of scrap. The stabilizers need fixing again!”

A few more distressing beeps followed as the droid rolled out of the cargo hold with Sal. C473 watched them go and an idea started to form in his mind. He didn’t know how much time he had left until they reached whatever destination they were heading to but he hoped that that droid came back before then.

Time was hard to tell in the hold. It might have been a few minutes or hours but the droid returned without Sal or another crew member following it. That just made it easier for C473 as he inched forward in the cage while trying to get the droid’s attention.

“Psssstt…. Droid…..” He whispered. The droid stopped rolling forward and looked around with a confused beep. “Yes you. Over here.” He added when he saw that the droid was now looking his way. Its antenna bobbed as it rolled slightly towards the cage.

“Want to do me a favor?” He asked the droid and then frowned. “What is your name?”

Two rhythmic beeps were the answer. “C1-O5?” He said aloud and mentally he tried to remember how old the C-series were. The droid beeped again and then asked what he wanted.

“Can you open this door?” He asked the droid and noted that finally some eyes glanced at him as he pointed to the electronic lock.

The droid however surprised him as he became skittish. A flurry of beeps was uttered before it rolled back slightly as if struck. C473 frowned as he tried to decipher the quickly uttered binary. It seemed that he had done that before and almost ended being taken apart by this crew as punishment.

“So you’re under orders to not open these?” He asked and gestured to the cages. The droid beeped sadly in affirmation. The clone thought for a moment and then asked. “Is that what you were expressly ordered not to do?” The droid beeped a yes and a sorry. “Then can you open something else for me as long it isn’t the cage door?”

The droid thought for a while. Probably going through its protocols, he surmised before adding. “The crew won’t be able to punish you.” He didn’t add that they’d be dead but he was sure the droid’s AI could guess the hidden meaning.

C1 seemed to have come to some sort of decision and beeped but didn’t come closer to the cage yet. The clone pointed to the metal collar around his neck and inched closer to the bars. The droid now rolled forward slowly and stopped as it inspected the collar. He could hear some clicking and then felt something against the collar. His red and green eyes widened when he realized the droid had used its utility saw to quickly snap the collar open. C1 rolled back as the suppression collar fell to the floor. C473 could feel the Force returning and with it the emotions of everyone on the ship assailed him much too quickly. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He picked up on those in the hold quickly. Curiosity, awe, hope, uncertainty. All of these flooded him through the Force. Closing his eyes he used the Force to snap the stuncuffs off of him in a swift movement and then rip the hinges off of the cage as if it was nothing.

The droid that had been watching him gave a startled beep as the metal door fell to the floor with a loud clang. This caused the slavers in the other room to stir. Someone was yelling to go check what was going on. The door wooshed open just as C473 stepped out of the cage and stretched. Without even looking he outstretched his arm, grabbing the unfortunate person in a Force choke. Those in the cell gaped as he snapped the slaver’s neck with ease.

“Time to clean ship.” He told the droid before stepping out of the cargo hold, the doors swinging close behind him. Shouts and curses could be heard briefly from the crew followed by a sudden silence and then thuds could be heard. The droid rolled hesitantly forward and onto the bridge to see the crew dead on the floor, not a drop of blood anywhere. It beeped once and C473 turned towards him.

“Can you release the others?” He asked the droid as he walked up to the controls and checked the nav computer. “Destination: Skaovis?” He read aloud a bit puzzled. He hadn’t heard of that planet before, but truth be told he hadn’t heard of a lot of planets. He checked the charts to see where they were. It showed a map of the Unknown Regions. ‘Well of course.’ His mind supplied. ‘Where else would the slave trade be booming.’ The old Republic and the Empire had long forsaken the Outer Rim and the territories beyond that. There was no Galactic Senate that would enforce their rule this far in space because most of the civilizations here held no benefit to them.

A few moments later C1 came back onto the bridge beeping that the prisoners had been freed. “Good you’re here.” He told the droid as it rolled forward. It gave him a cirp asking what was wrong.

“How do you land this thing?” The clone asked so casually that it took the droid a minute to panic when it saw that they had come out of hyperspace and were heading straight for the planet. There was a flurry of beeping and banging.

“No I don’t know how to fly a ship, let alone land it!” C473 shot back. More furious beeping followed that was not fit to be repeated in respectable company.


	2. Chapter 2

**Skaovis part 2**

“ _You haven’t chosen your path yet._ ” a female voice stated.

“ _I’m a Sith._ ” He answered back.

“ _Are you? Are you really?_ ” His own mind now supplied.

“ _YES!_ ” was shouted much too quickly in defense.

“It doesn’t seem like it.” His mind casually stated before his eyes snapped open. He let out a groan as pain shot through his left shoulder on which he had fallen due to the rather rough landing that they just had. He barely registered the indigent beeping that was coming from somewhere behind him. When he got up and turned around he saw that the droid had ended upside down during the crash landing and was now trying to wiggle its way right side up. With a flick of his hand he used the Force to help the droid. It let out a surprised beep and then rotated its head towards him.

The next thing he knew he was being interrogated by the droid who was now acting more like a mother hen than anything else.

“Yes, yes. I’m alright. No, I do not need a med pack. Yes, I’m sure.” He answered the droid’s flurry of questions while standing up and looking around.

“Well this isn’t so bad.” He noted. More beeps and bangs followed which were really the droid asking how he didn’t know how to pilot a ship.

“Well excuse me for not knowing. I’m literally three years old.” C473 replied as he began rummaging through the pockets of the men he had killed and taking their credits. “Oh don’t look at me like that. These men won’t be needing their money anytime soon.” He mumbled as he looked back to the droid who had fallen silent and was observing him. Then the droid asked him one question.

“How I’m three years old when I look like an adult?” C473 repeated as he mulled over what to tell the droid. He wasn’t one to lie but even Drago told him to shut up countless times because he was too blunt. “I’m a clone, plain and simple. Was activated almost three years ago.” He said. “I can do everything an adult can so you don’t need to worry.” He told the droid as an afterthought.

C1 beeped a bit impishly. “With the exception of flying and landing a ship.” The clone corrected to what he thought must have been a smug looking droid. He placed the pouches of credits in his pockets and his hand froze when his fingers brushed against something there that he hadn’t noticed. There in the palm of his hand lay a translucent Kyber crystal.

“How?” And then it hit him. He thought back to when he had been possessed by Andeddu. That woman, Mala, he overheard her being called, had spoken to him. Her words now rang fresh in his mind. “Now make sure you keep that thing I placed in your pocket safe.” She had said before fading out. ‘How did she even get a Kyber crystal?’ He asked himself. He closed his palm and placed the crystal back in one of his pockets. It wouldn’t do to dwell on that right now. He couldn’t use the crystal anyways. It felt cold and unresponsive to his touch. That was all the proof he needed that he was still a Sith.

“Let’s get out of here.” He mumbled and headed back to the cargo hold. C1 one followed behind him but bumped into him abruptly as he had stilled in the door’s entrance. His eyes narrowed as he saw the other prisoners. They were huddled together in a corner. Where he once sensed hope he now sensed trepidation. He took a step forward and watched them huddle closer. The clone wondered what these people had endured and where they had come from to be so afraid.

“Please spare us.” One of them mumbled. A slightly older humanoid than the rest. He cocked his head to the side to convey his confusion.

“Why would I hurt you?”

“You……… the crew……” The man managed to get out and then pointed to the body of the slumped slaver that he had left dead in the hold. C473 frowned and thought ‘Did they actually think that he was going to kill them? The slavers were an annoyance, these people hadn’t done anything and had been prisoners like him.’

‘There is no advantage in killing them.’ He thought as frightened eyes looked up at him.

‘A true Sith would have killed them. No witnesses.’ His mind supplied as he thought about his options. He reached into his pockets and threw some pouches of credits at the former prisoners. “Take them and leave. You never saw me.” He muttered before walking to the ship’s door and opening it. He stepped out onto the planet’s surface without looking back.

The surface of Skaovis looked equally as unpleasant as the ship he had been on. The ship had crashed in a grass field. The grass, instead of being lush and green, looked shriveled up. The sky held grey clouds. C473 could sense a large number of lifesigns to the east. He started making his way in that direction. The astromech droid beeped and he turned around and saw it following him.

He frowned and asked “What are you doing?” A series of beeps given as a reply.

“I know you’re following me.” He muttered. “I’m asking why?”

C1 beeped a few more times and looked a little expectant. “So what if that ship won’t fly again?” The clone grumbled. “I still see no reason for you to follow me.” He pulled the hood of his tattered robes up as a few droplets began to fall. A few beeps and what seemed like an indigent chirp.

“Oh, so now you’re just going the same way I am.” C473 huffed but said no more as he made his way across the field. The droid rolled behind him, also keeping quiet. It looked like it wanted to say something.

“Well? Spit it out?” He asked the droid after having received several curious looks from it. It let out a series of chirps and C473 frowned. ‘How the hell was he going to explain the Force to a droid?’ He wondered. The droid was a rather curious thing. The droids on the ship he was stuck on when Drago was still alive had all avoided him and never engaged him in any conversation like this one. ‘Had anyone ever tried to explain the Force to a droid before?’ He now thought before answering. “Well it starts with the amount of Midi-chlorians in your body….” he started to explain as they continued their journey to the nearest settlement.

By the time they had reached what looked like a town he was well into tale of the Force and the various powers it provided. C1 listened with rapt attention and would occasionally chirp a question. The town itself looked rundown. The buildings looked old, some looked hastily put together. The clone didn’t need to stretch out his senses to feel what type of people inhabited this place. A brawl had just broken out in the middle of the street that told it all.

“Smugglers” He grumbled as he pulled his hood tighter around him as men had started cheering and placing bets on the brawlers. Cantinas lined the road and merchants were peddling their wares in what he supposed construed as a market. There also seemed to be a lot of slavers here. C1 rolled a bit quicker and stuck next to him as one of the merchants had been eyeing the droid.

“How much for the droid?” The merchant shouted at him. He chose to ignore the man as he and C1 walked along the road. Something caught his eye however. Up ahead a crowd was gathering. It looked like a large stage had been set up there. Red banners had been hung on either side of the stage. C473 stopped and lifted a brow as a fat man with large jeweled rings on his fingers took the stage.

“Welcome ladies and gentleman. Scoundrels of all ages!” The man shouted. “Welcome to Olaf’s oddities! Today we bring you some very rare and exotic animals!”

The clone had crossed his arms as he watched from afar. C1 beeped, asking what was going on.  
“Animal smuggler.” The clone murmured as they watched several cages being brought on stage by what seemed to be Olaf’s crew. He could only sense greed from the man as the first cage was brought forward.

“Dear viewers, here we have an exotic animal that only appears every four hundred years on the planet of Lothal. A genetic anomaly and a very rare specimen that any collector would want. I give you the Black Lothcat!”

The crowd oohed and aahed as the contents of the cage were revealed. A black furry thing growled and stood on its haunches. Its black fur was dotted with white stripes and its tail was puffed up as it bared its sharp teeth at the audience. The clone’s eyes narrowed as he felt a strong feeling of defiance coming from the creature. It hissed and growled at the audience and looked ready to rip someone's throat out.

Olaf prodded the Lothcat with what appeared to be some type of electrical prod that had been attached to his belt. The Lothcat yelped and leapt back, hitting the back of the small cage. Olaf tried to prod it a few more times to get it to stop growling. The animal’s ears were pulled back as it tried to avoid the prod.

“The bidding starts at 1000 credits!” Olaf announced once the Lothcat had quieted down. There were several people bidding as and it looked like another brawl might start.

“Let’s go.” He told the droid. Giving one last look at the stage, C473 made an innocuous gesture with his hands, using the Force to unlatch the cage door. The Lothcat’s ears perked up as the little door swung open. Olaf hadn’t noticed this yet, as he was busy trying to auction the animal off, that was until he was jumped by the Lothcat who let out what seemed like a shrill warcry. The area was thrown into chaos as people started trying to catch the animal. C1 gave a beep of surprise as it followed along, almost missing the mischievous smirk on the human’s face.


	3. Chapter 3

**Skaovis part 3**

The clone and the droid entered a rundown cantina. The chaos on the street became less once the door had been closed. The dimly lit cantina was filled with smugglers, some drunk, others extremely drunk. Several eyes fell on him and the droid as they made their way to the bar. He could sense some emotions like curiosity and suspicion. Others didn’t even bother to look up from their card games or women.

“What can I get ya?” The gruff voice of the bartender asked as they approached the bar. C473 took out some credits and deposited them on the bar. “Corellian whiskey and something to eat.” he told the man. The bartender greedily took the credits before placing a bottle of whiskey and an empty glass on the counter. C473 took the drink and made his way to an empty table. The astromech let out a beep but followed as well. He didn’t have to wait long when one of the serving girls placed a bowl of hot stew and bread in front of him. He looked up at the waitress that had delivered his food while placing the glass down from which he sipped the alcohol. She was a humanoid, a Togruta if he had to guess.

“Like what you see stranger?” She asked with a sly smile.

“What can you tell me about this place?” He asked carefully. If he had to resort to a Mind trick he would do it to get the information he needed. “There seem to be more than the normal amount of slavers here. Is this some sort of Zygerrian outpost?”

“No hon. You really don’t know?” The waitress asked. “It’s because of the mine not so far from here. The owner is a woman named Minta, she runs the town and brought in slave labor to get all the precious ore out of the mine. Rumor has it she killed her own husbands one after the other if they spoke out against her.”

“I see.” He mumbled before lifting a brow. “Wait……. husbands?”

“She’s been married almost seven times now. The poor souls who get caught by her charms stand no chance. Most people put bets on how long they’ll live.”

“Thanks for the information.” He told the woman.

“Anytime hon. Maybe you’d like something more later.” The woman winked at him as she walked away.

“What was that wink about?” C473 asked the droid who had been quietly watching the conversation. The droid startled and gave an incredulous chirp. “How the hell was I supposed to know she was hitting on me?” Was replied. More chirps and beeps followed, this time in exasperation. C1 however let it drop for now but the clone wondered what the little droid was planning. He ate the stew placed before him and was actually surprised that it tasted somewhat good. The other patrons were still being rowdy, drinking, smoking, hitting on the servant girls. That was until three individuals stepped into the cantina. The abrupt silence that followed was shocking. C473 emotions running high in the cantina now. Shock and fear were the most prominent. Reading several surface thoughts of the patrons got him a name, Lady Loha.

“I cannot believe that they let that wild animal roam around like that!” The woman huffed. She looked quite elegant, dressed in golden finery. The robes she was wearing reached the floor and one of the people she was with was holding it up for her.

“My Lady please allow me to find you a seat.” Presumably her other servant said. The man that had spoken was now scanning the room. The clone went back to eating in peace at his table in the corner. None of this was his business anyway. At least it wasn’t until he noticed three sets of feet approaching.

“Don’t cause any trouble.” C1 had beeped softly as it rolled around to see the three newcomers approaching. The clone couldn’t care less and sighed as they had stopped by his table. His hood had been thrown back as he ate and he looked at them with a raised brow. A pouch containing a few credits was thrown onto his table before he could say anything. “Please take these credits and allow Lady Loha the use of your table.” The servant that had been scanning the room before stated in a haughty tone.

C473 raised a brow and met their gazes head on. ‘Did they really just try to pay him to leave his table just so that this woman can sit?!’ He mentally went over the statement. “There is room at the bar.” He told them as he went back to eating.

“You would dare suggest that I sit at that filthy bar!” The woman now spoke up in a haughty tone. The cantina was still silent and the clone picked up the incredulity directed at him. “Do you have any idea who I am!” She went on, her eyes narrowing. He read her thoughts lightly. So she thought he was nothing more than a vagabond who should just roll over and take the credits and be thankful.

Two different colored eyes never wavered from the woman as he dug into his pockets and produced a pouch of credits bigger than the one on the table. He placed it on the table and then said “Why don’t you take these credits and scram from my sight.”

Several scoundrels sucked in their breaths as they watched Lady Loha’s eyes widen and sputter something incoherent. “You know what?” C473 suddenly said before standing up and pocketing his pouch of credits. “Have the table. I’d rather not deal with some brat who thinks she’s all that.”

Lady Loha was still standing there sputtering at what had just happened as the clone and C1 brushed past her and out of the silent cantina. Once outside the droid went into some type of mother hen mode again as it beeped furiously. “Hey, I didn’t cause any trouble!” C473 replied with a huff. “They’re still alive aren’t they.” He told the droid as they started walking through the town again.

C1 was about to say something else when it let out a startled series of beeps and began rushing about. “What the hell?” the clone asked as the droid whipped up dust from the road. He looked at the panicked astromech before picking up whatever had sent it into such a frenzy from its head. A black furry thing wiggled in his hand as he picked it up by the scruff of its neck. He raised a brow when he saw that it was the black Lothcat from earlier. “So they haven’t caught you yet, huh?” He asked as the animal cocked its head and studied him. Meanwhile the poor droid had calmed down and was cursing at the animal. The creature just bared its sharp teeth at the droid, giving it its version of a laugh.

C473 put the animal back down and it immediately clambered up his robes and wound around his neck purring. The black fluffy tail swishing happily.

“Hey come on. I’m not your perch.” He mumbled as the Lothcat just curled up tighter.

C1 beeped the question “We aren’t keeping it are we?” as it looked at the animal in suspicion. The Lothcat had closed its eyes and was currently draped over C473’s shoulders like a fluffy scarf. They passed further through town and what the clone observed made him curious.

“We’ll keep it for now.” He told the droid as he absentmindedly petted the Lothcat, eliciting a happy purr. “I have my suspicions. For now, let’s go find us a ship. I’d rather not stay on this rock for much longer.”

The droid beeped frantically saying “Ship…… you aren’t planning to fly again are you? Oh my circuits!!!” but followed along.

The shipyard itself was under heavy guard. C473 pursed his lips as he removed an auburn bang from his face. There were too many guards to Mind trick and killing them all would draw unnecessary attention. They went back into town. C473 indicated a small alleyway to the droid. They entered it and waited at the dead end. C1 gave a questioning chirp but stopped when it noticed a hooded figure had followed them into the alley.

The clone wasted no time and reached out with the Force drawing the hooded individual towards him before lifting them into the air. A startled cry escaped as the hood fell down to reveal a light blue female Twi’lek.

“You’ve been following us since the cantina. Why?” He asked bluntly as he tightened his grip on her. “And I’ll know if you lie.” He added as an afterthought.

“You stood up to Lady Loha.” The Twi’lek said. “You…… weren’t afraid.” She then managed to rasp. “I….. I need your help!”

C473 dropped her. She landed on the ground with a thud. “I have no obligation to help you.” He told her as he started to walk back to the main street.

“Wait! I can make it worth it. You’re looking for a ship right!” She shouted. “I’m a pilot, I can get you a ship!”

The clone stopped for a moment and turned towards the Twi’lek still on the ground. He saw the look of desperation in her eyes and he knew she hadn’t been lying. C1 had also perked up at the mention of her being a pilot. “And what exactly do you want?”

“I need you to help me save my older brother.” She stated without hesitation.


	4. Chapter 4

**Skaovis part 4**

“Come again?!” C473 asked incredulously as he watched the blue Twi’lek woman stand up.

“Can we talk someplace else?” She asked him as she approached hesitantly. “You stood up to Lady Loha. I doubt she’ll let that slide. You’ll probably have her henchmen after you in no time.”

He looked at the woman and frowned for a moment. “I’m assuming you have a place to talk, and you will tell me everything.”

“I do.” The Twi’lek told him slightly hopeful. “And I will.”

“Very well then. Lead the way.” The clone stated as he wasn’t about to turn his back to a stranger. C1 followed along, a bit more cautiously now that another person had joined them. The Lothcat was still curled around the clone’s neck and woke up briefly to look around. It growled lowly when they passed by some of the smugglers. C473 absentmindedly began petting the animal. It gave a content purr and flicked it’s fluffy striped tail to and fro.

“What is your name?” He asked the woman that was leading them towards what appeared to be a bunch of old warehouses.

“Navida” She said softly before pointing to a dilapidated building. “I’ve been staying here. It’s honestly better than it looks.” She explained as they went inside.

C1 whirled around the space and let out a grumbling chirp when water hit his small antenna dish. “Oh just some small leaks here and there.” Navida said as she dusted off a rickety bench for them to sit on.

“Why are you even staying here? From the state of your clothes you have credits enough to stay at an inn.” C473 asked as he looked around. He found a small handmade cot not so far away as well as a basin.

“This is a slavers haven.” Navida mumbled. “And I’m a Twi’lek. You can probably guess what would happen.”

“Right.” He mumbled while wracking his brain. He had completely forgotten that the Twi’lek race was often singled out by slavers. The women would usually end up as pleasure slaves while the men were put in labor camps.

“Oh I haven’t even asked for your names!” Navida suddenly exclaimed as a blush appeared on her cheeks. “I’m so sorry! I was so excited that I might have met someone willing to stand up that I forgot.”

The droid happily chirped its name, having slightly warmed up to her. “I’m C473. The cat doesn’t have a name yet.” The clone stated calmly as said Lothcat was lazily gazing about. He picked the creature up and placed him on C1’s head again where it sat calmly. C1 was not amused and let it be known in a flurry of beeps.

“C473?” Navida repeated as she frowned while studying him. “Alright, I get it if you don’t want to tell me your real name.”

“That is my real name.”

“But it’s a number.” Navida stated. “How can you have a name for a number?”

“Clone” He told her bluntly. “You still want my help?” He knew that some people did not like clones so he wanted to get that out of the way.

“I’ll take any help I can get.” Navida stated seriously. “If it gets me into Minta’s Palace.”

“Why would you even try to go there?” He asked curiously.

“Like I said, I need help to find my brother.” Navida sighed before explaining further. “Our village was raided when I was still a child. My older brother had me hide in our cupboard when the slavers came. They took my brother and I’ve been searching for him ever since I came of age. This planet was the lead I finally got.”

“He’s in the mines?”

“He was. I managed to find out from one of the slaves that he was taken out of the mines by Minta herself. He’s somewhere in that palace, I just know it, and I aim to find him and bring him home.” C473 could sense the conviction coming off her in waves. “And of course I’ll keep my promise. You’ll get your ship. There is a shuttle parked on the palace grounds. Minta uses it for her leisure. No one would dare to attempt to steal it because of the consequences if they got caught, so it wouldn’t be as heavily guarded as those at the shipyard.”

C473 thought it over for a bit. There were certain advantages if the craft was lightly guarded. The problem would be tricking the security in the palace. “If I were to help you, and I do mean hypothetically, if I were to help you, how do you suppose that we get into the palace?”

Navida’s eyes lit up. “I have somewhat of a plan.” She then mumbled.

“Somewhat of a plan?”

Navida nodded. “Yes, Minta doesn’t stick to a schedule and she’s exceedingly paranoid, as there have been multiple attempts on her life. She changes the guard rotation times once a month. I’ve been planetside long enough to figure that out. To get into the palace we’d need either Loha or Minta with us. Those that get too close to the palace get shot on sight.”

“Before we continue any further, answer me this. You seem to know who this Loha person is. Why is everyone so cautious around her? She seemed like nothing more than a brat to me.” He asked out of curiosity.

Navida’s eyes widened comically, he could feel the incredulity running off of her in waves. “You don’t know! You don’t know and you talked back to her?!”

“Uhm….. yes?” C473 frowned while the droid let out a beeping that sounded like a groan.

“She’s Minta’s daughter!” The Twi’lek exclaimed. “Everyone is afraid of Minta, but they are terrified of her daughter. She uses her mother’s influence to get her way.”

“Oh” C473 said.

“Oh? Just Oh!” Navida sighed. “You’ve just embarrassed one of the most influential people in this place, you’ll probably have a bounty on your head soon, and all you can say is OH!”

“What else do you want me to say?” He tilted his head slightly, not understanding what the problem was. “C1 and I just landed…….” He was interrupted by the droid’s indigent chirp. “Correction, crash landed here.” He grumbled as he shot the droid a glare. The Lothcat seemed to have had enough of bothering the astromech and leapt onto his lap. “The whims of some high ranking fool aren’t my problem. I have no problem cutting down whoever comes to annoy me.”

“That was…….. very blunt.” Navida muttered as C1 chirped his agreement.

“So what is this plan of yours?”

“As I said, we need either Minta or Loha to get us on the grounds. I didn’t think you’d be a Force user. I had planned on kidnapping either of them but would it be possible to pull some sort of Jedi mind trick on them?”

“I’m no Jedi.” C473 mumbled.

“Oh” She said. “So you can’t do that?”

“That wasn’t what I said. I just said that I am no Jedi. Any powerful Force user should be able to use the Mind Trick.”

“Oh okay.” Navida said. She looked at her guest closely and wondered just who she had come across, as his voice was slightly raised when he said Jedi.

“I presume guards will be present around either.” He stated. “Mind tricks don’t last that long. They are more of suggestions. What we need is to gain favor with them.”

“Well then Loha’s out of the question. It didn’t look like she was warming up to you.”

“I wasn’t talking about the daughter specifically. Right now I need you to tell me every single thing you know about Minta.”

“So you’ll help me?” Navida asked leaning forward slightly out of eagerness.

“I’ll help you, if you help me.” He stated.

“Then we have a deal!” Navida held out her hand. He grasped it tightly and shook it. “I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a great partnership.”

As promised Navida gave them all she had on Minta and her daughter. They went over everything until a more stable plan was in place. She had offered both him and C1 accommodations for the night. The dilapidated building let in the cold air at night. C1 had powered down, Navida who was already used to the building slept slightly huddles between blankets but C473 was having a fitful dream.

_C473 slowly opened his eyes to find that he was no longer in the building with C1 and Navida. Instead he was standing in a ship’s corridor that had seen better days. ‘A Force vision?’ He questioned as he started walking forward. He had never seen this place before. The ship, if it could be called a ship, was falling apart. The walls were dirty, and several places had no hull. Only the thin shield protected those areas from the vacuum of space. The entire ship was deadly silent as he slowly walked to the bridge. The feeling of apprehension grew as he neared his destination._

_“Why are you showing me this?” He asked no one in particular. Maybe the Force would finally answer in a few sentences and stop being so cryptic. Instead the doors to the bridge opened on their own allowing him admittance. The bridge was bathed in an eerie red light._

_“This ship shouldn’t be here, should it.” C473 asked calmly. One of the consoles on the bridge was active. He slowly walked to it and frowned. The screen was cracked but he could still make out the ship’s log. Pressing down on the console cause a voice file to play._

_“ **The hunger that fills this vessel, it is power, but it consumes without end. It is that power we felt on Onderon……………** ” The rest of the message was garbled out and with that two different colored eyes snapped open. He breathed heavily at what he had just experienced. The vision itself was not what set him on edge. It was the feeling of dread of millions of souls as their lives were drained out of existence._

_‘Why did the Force show me that vision.’ He questioned mentally. ‘What was that ship…… **The Ravager**?’_

* * *

 

**AN: Alrighty so I'm guessing all of you are wondering where I am going to go with this story. Some clues have already been given. Now, of course, there are certain adventures to be had before the climax and I'm holding a poll to see which planet I should write about next in the book. Everyone can vote. I will give you the planet names (but of course not the plot ) and you may choose where this story will go next. The planet with the most votes shall be the next up after Skaovis. XD**

** The planets are: **

1) Andos

2)  Durace

3)  244CORE

4)  Iol

5) Savro

_(Inserts evil laugh)_


	5. Chapter 5

**Skaovis part 5**

“Are you sure this will work?” Navida asked as she pulled the hood around her head tighter. They were near the mines today, looking like they were searching for jobs while waiting for their target.

“If we play our cards right then yes.” C473 stated. They had worked out the plan in a few days and were now waiting. “Remember, we’ll strike once Minta shows up for the mine inspection.” he told her.

“Yes I know.” Navida stated. “I also know that you can’t introduce yourself by a number. Have you thought of a name yet?”

“I guess you can call me Tris for now.” C473 told her. Beside them C1 beeped surprised. The droid was slightly grumpy as the Lothcat had slept on him for the past few nights. Now it was currently curled around C473’s,...... no, Tris’s neck.

“Why Tris?” Navida was curious. “It’s an odd name?”

“It was an easy name to remember.” C473 stated. “And it’s no more odd than the name Hiccup.”

“Hiccup? Who would be named Hiccup?” Navida now asked.

“The one I was cloned from.” C473 now stated.

“I take it back. Tris is a perfectly acceptable name.” She then stated.

“Good because it’s starting.” He told her. She looked around and indeed, people began gathering. It was mostly beggars who tried to get to the front as Minta pasted with her entourage of guards, hoping for her to be generous as she came to survey the progress in the mines. Tris could not see the woman himself as she was hidden behind white curtains of a palanquin that was being lifted by four weary-looking men. Around the palanquin guards walked stiffly. He concentrated to read the emotions of these people. Minta appeared to be disinterested in the gathered crowd. He could almost feel her scoff at their pathetic attempts. The men carrying her palanquin seemed to be feeling resignation and a deep hatred for the woman. ‘Slaves’ his mind supplied as he studied them. While he could have used them for their scheme he quickly changed his mind and directed his scrutiny towards the guards. There was a general dislike for Minta from them but the feelings of greed and jealousy stood out more. ‘Mercenaries’ He concluded. “Get ready” He whispered to Navida who gave a stiff nod in return.

C473 closed his eyes briefly and concentrated. To perform the Mind trick on so many people at once was challenging but reinforcing a fear that many of the guards had would make it seem more natural. He quickly sought out the most susceptible minds in the entourage and planted the idea in their head ‘Minta has ordered your execution, you must kill her immediately’ he conveyed and when he opened his eyes chaos broke out. Blaster shots rang out and some guards fell dead on the street. The crowds started screaming and running in all directions to avoid not being hit as more than half the guards turned on each other and tried to raise their blasters at Minta. Those that hadn’t been affected by the Mind trick raised their blasters in defense. Both sides were being cut down as the palanquin fell sideways, the slaves trying to find a safe place to cower.

“Kriff” Navida muttered as she and Tris took out their own blasters. C1 cowered behind them while the Lothcat bristled but didn’t move from where it lay. Tris looked down at the woman that had fallen out of the palanquin and was now shouting orders at her guards to contain the situation. She was dressed in lavish clothing decorated with gold and pearls and was younger than he had expected, most likely in her early forties C473 concluded. However, those that had turned were more than the men she currently had and soon only she remained alive, crouching behind the upturned palanquin as blaster shots were fired in her direction.

“We’re up.” He told Navida as he produced an old blaster model from his robes. C1 wisely chose to stay behind as the two organics charged into the fray. Only three men were left of the guards and all three were slowly drawing closer to the toppled palanquin where Minta was hiding behind. C473 felt her fear spike as one of the men rounded upon her and raised his blaster. He fired his blaster and hit the man square in the chest before the woman could be shot. Minta’s eyes widened as the man pitched forward and landed at her feet on the ground. “Who are you?!” She shouted looking at C473 as he shot another guard while Navida dispatched the last one.

“Just a passerby who would hate to see a lady dead on the street.” He said, turning up the charm, as he helped her stand up. “So……. who are you anyway? You must be someone important with all this happening.” He asked feigning confusion as Minta caught her breath. She looked at her savior and gasped upon seeing two colored eyes.

“You don’t know who I am?” She asked suspiciously as her eyes narrowed to Navida and C1 who came to stand with their companion.

“Just arrived on this planet a few days ago.” He answered. “I haven’t been in this quadrant of space before.” C473 silently used the Force on Minta to make her believe that there was nothing suspicious about them.

“Of course.” Minta stated as she now looked at the group with interest. “How could someone like you have been involved with a guard uprising.” Minta said, her voice becoming somewhat sultry as she checked C473 out blatantly. Navida raised a brow slightly at the statement and now also knew why he had bought some slightly more revealing clothes a few days back. “May I know the names of my saviors? I am Minta, ruler of this area.”

“Tris, I’m but a simple explorer and this is Navida, my associate.” He introduced. C1 let out a chirp when he added “and C1, our trusty astromech.”

“I see.” Minta smiled. Her smile turned into a frown when she saw a few of her guards approaching from the direction of her palace.

“Excuse me” She told the group before turning to the guards that now assembled before her. “And where were you lot? I sent a distress signal moments after the shots were fired!”

“Our apologies Lady Minta!” One of the men nervously said. “It took us a while to find your location.”

“Excuses. All I’m hearing from you are excuses.” She muttered and glared at the assembled guards. “If not for this fine group then I would have been dead by the time you lot showed your faces.” She growled. “Gather my servants and prepare to accompany me back to the palace. I want a full investigation as to why this happened.” She then turned back to C473 and Navida and said “I would be delighted if you would accompany me to my home.”

Navida turned and looked sharply at Tris when he said “I’m afraid that we might have to decline. We have yet to find an inn for the night and….” He was cut off when Minta suggested “Please, won’t you accompany me to my palace. I wish to convey my gratitude to you and your companion for saving my life. I will even provide you with rooms for the night as well dinner.” Navida, ever observant, noticed Minta’s interest in Tris. Her invitation was mostly directed at him. She still couldn’t believe that this ridiculous plan was actually working or that the blunt man she had met could actually be such a marvelous actor. He was really putting on the charm, portraying a somewhat chivalrous and naive spacefarer. The exact type of man Minta seemed to like.

“Now, how can I say no to such a request of a charming woman. We would certainly love to join your for dinner but a reward is unnecessary.”

“I insist Tris.” Minta said a bit flirtuous as she put an arm around his and started guiding them to the palace. The guards meanwhile said nothing as they did not want their employer’s ire to turn upon them. Navida and C1 walked behind the pair and the guards fell in around them. Suddenly Navida heard Tris’s voice projected in her head. He wasn’t looking at her and it still made her a bit jumpy as when he had first shown her this type of Force communication. She could only hear him but not reply as she was not Force sensitive but the voice sounded smug as it said “Hook, line, and sinker”. Navida again had to wonder just who the hell her new partner was. He certainly didn’t do anything half-assed as seen by the woman, whom many might call a tyrant, currently trying to flirt with him.

They reached the palace after a while, Tris keeping Minta occupied most of the time. Navida, who was still walking behind them, noticed the curious and pitying glances some of the guards were sending their way. She assumed that it was because the men who Minta took an interest in often ended up dead. That was actually what Tris had counted on. Minta placed her handprint on the biometric sensor and the large durasteel gates opened with a weary groan. The inside of the palace had an austere feel to it. The lights were low and the walls of the foyer seemed to be made of black marble. The high vaulted ceilings adding to the intimidating atmosphere.

“I will have one of my guards escort you to your suite.” Minta stated as she beckoned one of her men forward. “Dinner shall be in two hours. I shall instruct my chefs to prepare a hearty meal for my saviors. Until then please feel free to rest and recuperate. The whole ordeal must have tired you all.”

“Thank you for your hospitality.” Tris stated as they turned to follow one of the guards. The suite that they were led too was big. A common room in the middle with a door on each side leading to the bedchambers. The guard gave them a stiff nod before closing the door.

“I can’t believe that actually worked.” Navida said amazed once they were sure that they were alone. “Where did you learn to be such a smooth talker?”

“I was instructed in the art of diplomacy as well.” Triss simply stated as he watched the blue Twi’lek woman flop on a large couch. “It would not do to be ignorant of politics and negotiations in my previous occupation. Suffice to say I can adapt fairly well.”

“And what was your previous occupation?” She asked while cocking her head slightly. The Lothcat that was still curled around Tris’s neck jumped off and began exploring the area while C1 rolled to a charging port. “If we get through this alive I will tell you.”

“If?” Navida mumbled. “You had Minta fawning all over you.”

“Minta does not fully trust us yet. She has a strong mind and is paranoid. If I kept using the Force on her like when we approached her then she would eventually notice.” He stated. “I sense that there are now several guards stationed along the hallway that were not there when we arrived. We must still be cautious.”

“Then how am I going to search for my brother if we’re being watched?” Navida asked.

“There may be a wa-” They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Triss indicated for her to be quiet as he went to open it. It was the guard that had brought them to these rooms. He was standing there quite nervously. “Lady Minta had forgotten to ask you something. She requested that if you are amenable to a private meeting before dinner.”

“I am” Tris told the man who stepped aside for him. He briefly turned back to Navida and said “I’ll be back later.” She nodded and once the door closed looked at the Lothcat that was peering at her while swishing its furry tail. “Don’t look at me.” She told the creature. “I have no idea what’s going through his mind.


	6. Chapter 6

**Skaovis part 6**

The guard led Tris to some large ornate doors. “Lady Minta is waiting for you inside.” He told him, gesturing to the doors, before standing stiffly at attention. Tris could feel all sorts of emotions coming from the guard but he wasted no time reading the man’s thoughts. He leaned a hand on the heavy ornate durasteel door and pushed it open. The door gave a creak as he stepped through. The rooms on the other side were warmly decorated. The walls seemed to be obsidian black with gold plating in intricate ivy patterns much like the suite that they had been given, lavish curtains hung before large windows that overlooked the courtyard, and large pillows were strewn upon various couches as well as the bed. A fire pit in the middle and bathed the room in a soft glow. “Do you like it?” A voice came from beside him. Tris turned around, looking slightly startled. Minta was leaning against one of the ornate pillars dressed in very revealing clothing. The robes she wore were near translucent.

“I……. like it.” He told her, looking away quickly. This caused the woman to smile slightly.

“So tell me. What brings an explorer like you all the way to my little region?” She asked as she gave him a sultry look. “Most men that come here are hardly as chivalrous as you.”

“I wouldn’t call myself chivalrous.” He muttered and then quickly said. “Coming here was entirely by accident. Had a bit of engine trouble.”

“Well I’m certainly glad that you were there today.” She stated and then beckoned him to follow. “Come I would like to show you something.”

They exited the rooms and the guard who had led him there tried to look anywhere but the pair. “This place is certainly big.” He stated as they walked passed large windows overlooking a nearby lake. “Did you built this all yourself?”

“Goodness no. This palace belonged to my late husband.”

C473 really wanted to ask which husband but bit his tongue. Instead he said “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Minta told him. “He was nothing more than a wealthy criminal. I took great pleasure in disposing of him.” He sensed that there was more to the story but Minta went onto say “I hope that isn’t a problem.”

“Why would it be?” Tris now asked.

“Good, because I’m starting to like you Tris. You intrigue me.” Minta now revealed, but he already knew that. Playing his part he asked “But you hardly know me.”

“It’s just a feeling.” Minta mumbled. “I can’t put my finger on it but you seem like an intriguing man, it’s like you're teetering on a precipice and I wish to uncover all your secrets. Would you consider staying?” He raised a brow and momentarily wondered if this woman was Force-sensitive or not. He bit his lower lip and Minta thought that he was contemplating her offer. “Come” She said without preamble as they resumed their journey. Minta led him to an even larger door. This one accompanied by numerous security measures as well as several guards.

“What is this place?” He asked as they stepped inside. The inside of the room was lit up and filled with various shelves and pedestals holding all kinds of objects.

“I call this the vault.” Minta stated. “I consider myself a collector of interesting and ancient artifacts. Many of these are priceless.” She said while gesturing to some stone slab that had a language he couldn’t understand carved upon it. She leaned close to Tris. “As a reward for you saving my life I will let you chose an artifact from here.”

“You’re serious?” He asked.

“I am. You may do with it what you want. If you sell it you will be set for life. Unless you want your weight in precious metals instead? My laborers have extracted numerous gemstones from the mines.” She stated. “But I do hope you give my proposal some thought as well. It would be a shame if you left without us getting to know each other……….. Better.”

Tris might not always know when someone was flirting with him but that was just too blatant. Her thoughts were practically screaming at him. One of them was a fantasy about him being draped in finery and gems while laying on her bed. She leaned close to him and caressed his arm, the silky material of her near translucent robes brushing against his hand. Something however caught his eye. On a corner shelf sat two glittering hilts. “What are those?” He asked suddenly feeling a sort of Force pull to the hilts. They were white sword hilts decked with glimmering lines of what seemed to be gold. Tris took a step towards the shelf, he felt a Force signature but it was very weak.

“Those?” Minta asked as she watched him pick up the hilts. “I have no idea. I got them off a passing trader who assured me he acquired them from some warrior from the past. Do you really want those? One of the hilts is damaged and they have no blade. It is most probably the item of lowest value in here.”

Tris heard Minta but he was just staring at the hilts. What were the odds that he’d find something like these here. He turned back to Minta with the hilts in his hands. “These seem to be fine lady Minta.” She still looked unsure but nodded and he quickly scanned her thoughts. It seemed she had never seen a lightsaber before. ‘More fool her.’ He thought as they departed the vault with Minta on his arm once more.

Once C473 returned to the suite he found Navida resting on the couch with the Lothcat on her lap and C1 cursing next to her. “What did I miss?” He asked as he closed the door.

“Oh C1 was just enlightening me on your piloting skills.” Navida smirked as Tris directed a scowl at the droid. “How was your meeting with that maneater?”

“It’s like you suspected.” He replied. “She tried to come onto me in her chambers and then I received a tour of her palace, which included some vault.” He held up the hilts to show the woman. “I got these from there.”

“What are they?” Navida asked as she looked at the hilts curiously.

“I’d say they’re Electrum lightsabers. A bit damaged but they can be repaired.”

“What are Electrum lightsabers?” Navida now sat up. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen one before.”

“Neither had Minta. She thought these were worthless.” He replied.

“Well can you blame her? Not many people in the unknown regions know what the Jedi or Sith were.” Navida shrugged. “It’s safe to say that they’ve never seen a lightsaber either or they might think them merely a myth.”

“We also need to act now.” He stated.

“But dinner is in just under an hour.”

“Exactly, and she wants us to meet her daughter.” He grumbled.

“That would be bad.” Navida muttered as she got up. C1 with the Lothcat on its head also started following. “Loha can hold a grudge. She’ll most likely expose you.”

“Which is why we are going to find that brother of yours now and then hightail it out of here.” Tris stated as he clipped the hilts to his belt. “I plucked the general layout of the palace from the guards. Minta likes to keep her men in a large room on the floor above.” He told her. “It would be the most likely place for your brother to be.”

“And how do we get there?” Navida asked as the group stood by the door. “You said that there were guards in the hallway and I doubt going out the window would be a good idea.” She hesitantly looked at the large windows and the very narrow ledge.

“I’ll Force cloak us. The guards won’t notice that we have left.” He stated and beckoned them all closer.

“And what if they do notice us?” Navida whispered as she held her blaster to her chest while they started creeping out the room. She got an unemotional look from her partner “Right, you’ll kill them.” She murmured as they snuck along. Surprisingly the whole sneaking through a tyrant’s palace was anti-climatic as, true to his words, the guards didn’t even notice them. They made it up to the floor above when Tris gave the sign to stop. “Kriff!” Navida heard him utter.

“What’s wrong?” She asked in a low voice.

“This floor is guarded by droidekas.” She looked to where he was pointing and saw four balls just sitting idly around the corridor.

“Can they really be so bad?” Navida murmured. “Aren’t they old droids from the Clone wars?”

“It’s not like I can’t take them. It’s just that they are extremely annoying.” Tris grumbled. “They were designed to exterminate their targets with extreme prejudice and they have a damn shield generator. Blasters won’t work on them.”

“But you can disable them?”

“Yes but to do that I’ll need to drop the Force cloak.” He told her. C1 let out a bit of a distressed warble. “Go hide behind that pillar.” He indicated, gesturing to a large black pillar decorated with gold. The Force cloak was dropped as soon as Navida, C1 and the Lothcat were safely behind the pillar. Tris, standing out in the open, immediately attracted the attention of the four droidekas. They rolled next to each other into a line and unfurled, training their twin blaster cannons on their target and engaging their shields.

C1 let out a high-pitched chirp that indicated that either indicated distress or worry at all the guns trained on the clone. The droidekas were about to fire when they were pushed into the nearby wall. Tris’s outstretched hand keeping them pinned even as their shields minimized the impact damage.

“What now? You can’t keep them like that forever.” She quietly asked as she saw that the wall had more damage than any of the four droids.

“Those shields might be a major annoyance but that doesn’t make them invincible.” Tris explained as he focused the Force to crush the droids within their shields. Soon all that was left of the droids was a crushed mess of metal and flickering shields.

C1 actually rushed towards C473 and bumped into his legs while letting out a series of beeps and chirps. Navida stopped to listen and then had to blush slightly at what the droid was saying. “Is he always so expressive?”

“Only when in mother hen mode or while cussing. I didn’t know he could combine the two.” He answered as the Lothcat that was hanging onto the wildly spinning head of the droid climbed up on his shoulders and wrapped himself around C473’s neck again. “Let’s go. We haven’t much time. Dinner should be starting soon.”

“Right” Navida said as they approached the large doors. She let out a shaky breath. “Finally, after all this time……… I’ll see my brother again.” She proceeded to push the doors open. The room was nothing like they expected. It was big, had high-vaulted ceilings and even a fountain in the middle. Around the room several men, not all of them human, were lounging in various skimpy clothing.

“Are they drugged?” Navida asked as she waved her hand in front of the face of one of the men, getting no reaction.

“Seems like it. Which one is your brother?” Was asked. Navida looked around. There were two Twi’lek males lying on some pillows but on further inspection they did not turn out to be her brother. “I……. I don’t see him.” She admitted with a look of worry in her eyes.

“Well I’m sorry but we are out of time as it is. We need to get out of this place fast.”

“Maybe he’s somewhere else in the palace!” Navida uttered desperately. “Please, he has to be here!”

“Navida we are out of time.” Tris told her as C1 agreed.

“But we are so close!” She tried to reason. “I know he was brought here.” Tris however grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the exit. “PLEASE!!!” She pleaded again.

Tris turned back to the desperate Twi’lek. “If we don’t get out of here then you won’t have a life to keep on searching.” He hissed.

“As amusing as your squabble is, neither one of you is getting out of here alive.” A voice said. Both turned towards the large doors to see Minta and a contingent of guards train their weapons on them.

“You knew we were here.” Tris muttered as his eyes narrowed.

“Of course. I have all the rooms bugged and I knew where you went when my droidekas were destroyed.” Minta stated nonchalantly. “You can’t trust anyone these days. Although you did surprise me with your little tricks.”

“You know I could snap your neck quite easily.” He threatened.

“You do that and my guards will put lots of holes in you and your companions.” Minta replied not looking the slightest bit bothered.

“You’re gonna kill us either way.” Tris stated.

“True” Minta muttered as she flicked a stray lock of hair out of her face. “And I do so regrettably, really.” She looked at Tris in particular as she spoke “I’m a collector of interesting things. Your different colored eyes are quite unique and you would have fitted so well in my collection. Your abilities make you even more valuable.” She smirked. “I could have given you a cushy life but alas you decided to deceive me.”

“You’re sick!” Navida muttered. “What did you do to my brother Lasco.”

“Your brother…….” Minta thought for a moment. “Ah, a green-skinned Twi’lek? Oh I remember.”

“So he is here.” She stated.

“Well not anymore.” Minta shrugged. “I’m afraid I had to kill him.”

“WHAT!”

“Quite recently too.” She smirked as she watched Navida who had a look of shock and pure hatred on her face. “He did try to put a blade through my back.”

“Allow me to kriffing finish what he started then.” She snarled at Minta.

“I’m afraid not.” Minta smirked as she gave a sign to her guards to fire. Navida closed her eyes as the familiar sounds of blaster fire erupted. She however opened them slightly when no painful death came. She gasped at what she saw and she wasn’t the only one. The guards and Minta had equal looks of shock and awe on their faces. There in the middle of the room, several red blaster bolts that had been directed at them stood frozen in mid-air. She turned sharply to Tris who had a look of deep concentration on his face.

“I didn't know you could do that.” She whispered in awe.

“Me neither.” Tris stated as he concentrated on the bolts. “Get ready to run.” He deflected the blaster bolts back at their shooters just as he said that. Bolts hit the men and Minta square in the chest, their opponents falling onto the floor, dead. Tris tugged on Navida’s arm. “Come on. We have a transport to catch!”

**\-----------------To be continued---------------**


	7. Chapter 7

**244CORE Part 1**

The space _was just a black void that C473 floated through. He saw no stars or planets, it was just……….. empty. “What is it with the Force and these weird visions?” He grumbled yet nothing happened around him. “Are you seriously going to leave me in this void!” He now yelled at no one in particular. He crossed his arms as he aimlessly floated in the dark space for Maker’s knew how long._

 _“_ ARG _!!!” He growled and then he suddenly felt gravity taking over. “WHAT THE HELL!!” C473 shouted as he suddenly plummeted. Everything went white around him and when he opened his eyes he was standing on a mountaintop, on an unfamiliar planet, looking over a fast jungle. He had a feeling that the Force or some other cosmic entity must be having quite a laugh at his expense and cluelessness. He looked around with curiosity knowing that while cryptic, the Force wouldn’t just send anyone a vision. He just wished that it wouldn’t play charades with him. There was a large opening in the mountain. A sort of ravine or gouge. He instinctively felt the need to approach it. Getting closer_ however _was a challenge as a sudden dread started creeping up on him._

_His mind was screaming for him to get the heck out of there as he put one foot in front of the other, cautiously approaching the dark ravine. ‘It was an irrational fear’ he thought. Why was he even afraid? He pondered. This was a Force vision. His emotions should play no part in this. C473 did momentarily stop when something occurred to him. What if these weren’t his emotions, what if they were from the Force itself. He looked back at the ravine and wondered what in the galaxy could even terrify a cosmic power. Suddenly the dread grew and he shrank back as blackness shot out from the ravine. It moved like smoke around the area. The jungle below started to disappear back into a void of blackness and C473 screamed when the black mist touched his feet. It started traveling up his body and his eyes widened when he felt his body and the Force he possessed disappear. It was traveling up his arms when he woke up with a start._

“TRIS!” Was shouted by someone as he suddenly sat up and let out a scream, before falling off of whatever he had been lying on with an audible thud.

“Ugh” He moaned as he rubbed his nose. There was a lick on his cheek and he cracked open an eye to see the black Lothcat next to him. Its furry tail swished worriedly to and fro. “Thank Maker you’re awake.” Was said as he saw Navida hovering above him.

“What happened?” He asked as he took in his surroundings. He was in what appeared to be a luxurious room and had been lying on a small sofa.

“YOU IDIOT!!” Navida exclaimed instead of answering. “YOU HAD ALL OF US WORRIED!”

“What happened?” He asked once more as he sat up and absentmindedly petted the Lothcat. He looked around with a frown “And where are we?”

“We’re on Minta’s transport The Aurora.” Navida told him while frowning. “And you seriously don’t remember what happened?”

“All I remember is stopping those blaster bolts.” He admitted a bit sheepishly. “I really have no clue what happened afterwards.”

Navida had her hands on her hips as she looked at her partner. “So you don’t remember returning those bolts to their owners?” She asks and he shook his head in affirmation. “Killing Minta? Picking me up and running through the palace?” Again, an affirmation that he did not remember. “Destroying several walls to stop the guards until we reached the transport?” Unceremoniously dumping me on the bridge after jumping from down a few storeys to the landing pad and then telling me to get clear of the atmosphere before falling unconscious?”

“Uh…….” C473 mumbled as he furrowed his brows.

“Do you know how worried we were!!” Navida exclaimed again.

“Sorry” He mumbled, completely at a loss for what to do. He’d never had people worried about him. “I must have expanded too much Force energy. I’m sorry if I worried you.” C1 beeped and then bumped into his leg as if initiating a hug. “I’m sorry I worried you all.” He mumbled. “I really didn’t know I could do all that or how draining it would be.”

“Well we are all just glad you are alright. C1 didn’t want to leave your side when you fainted.” Navida mumbled. “You need rest and I need to get back to plotting our course.”

“I don’t need more…..” He was cut off by Navida glaring at him before threatening “I will have C1 tie you to a chair if I thought that would help. You’ve obviously haven’t recovered since you woke up screaming. NOW SIT!”

He subconsciously sat down, not wanting to get Navida mad at him again, but he didn’t want to sleep more, especially not after that vision where he felt like he was being eaten. Instead he set about looking over the lightsabers he had gotten from Minta’s vault and idly wondered what could make the Force so afraid. Navida went back to piloting the ship and when she returned he had already disassembled both sabers with the Force, the parts floating in front of him.

“What are you doing Tris?” Navida asked but did not break his concentration.

“I’m trying to repair at least one.” He mumbled. “And why do you keep calling me Tris? That was just a cover name.”

“I happen to like that name for you.” Navida mumbled as she sat down on the couch opposite to him. “And you can’t go around calling yourself C473 all the time. Tris suits you.”

“I guess.” he said uncertainty and then frowned slightly.

“What’s the matter?”

“It’s just these two Kyber crystals.” he stated while holding out two red crystals for Navida to see. One had a much darker red coloring than the other.  
“What is wrong with them?” She asked.

“One of them is dying.” He told her and then gestured towards the darker crystal. “It’s been holding out for years, maybe even several decades, but it’s dying now.”

“Why now all of the sudden?” She asked, frowning and looking at the crystal that was slowly losing its light.

“The call to the sabers was faint.” Tris told her. “It felt like it wanted me to take them.”

“And now that you have this one can finally rest?” She asked curiously. “You make it sound like these crystals are sentient.”

“In a way they are.” He told er and continued explaining. “According to Drago and Dagur, some of the people I used to work with, these crystals were sentient beings from the past.” He took out the unaltered Kyber crystal from his pocket, it still felt cold against his palm. “Dark Force users can’t use them without turning them blood red first.”

“So these lightsabers originally belonged to a Sith?” She asked curiously.

“They belonged to a Jedi who turned from the path of Light to the Dark.” He told her as he sorted out the damaged parts of the saber. “I can get one of these fully functioning again, for the other I need some parts.”

“Wait……. Just wait a minute. How do you even know that this Dark Force user was a Jedi?” See now asked with wide eyes.

“It was just a simple deduction.” he stated but Navida still looked skeptical. “Alright, I’ll explain.” He said before pointing to the saber hilts. “As I said the red crystals indicate a Dark Force user, yet the saber hilts indicate a Jedi.”

“How so?” Navida cocked her head slightly as she looked down at the glimmering hilts.

“These are Electrum lightsabers.” He stated. “The sabers have an Electrum finish, making them more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The Electrum itself was used to give lightsabers a regal-like appearance during the old Jedi order, but this was usually reserved for senior members of the Jedi High Council.”

“So this Jedi would have been a master that turned to the Dark side.” Navida stated as Tris nodded.

“Yes, and since Force users are reluctant to part with their weapons even when changing sides it stands to reason from the damage to the hilts that whomever this was, was beaten in combat.”

“But wouldn’t people have known how to activate the lightsabers?” She asked. “I still don’t understand how Minta could not have known. Especially if one was working.”

“This Jedi master was quite clever you see.” He stated before showing Navida the lightsaber components. “He placed the activation butting inside the hilt so only those with the Force could activate them.”

“That seems more paranoid than skillful.” She muttered.

“Either way it stopped most from activating these sabers.”

“Right” She said. “So can you fix the other one?”

“I need a few components but it isn’t damaged too much. Most of the damage was absorbed by the crystal.” he said while pointing to the now dark crystal. It lay silently in his hand, dark red and without a glow, cracking along its edges.

“It’s gone isn’t it.” Navida asked hesitantly. She didn’t know why but she felt sorry for it as Tris nodded. “At least it found a good owner.”

“Hmm?” He mumbled.

“Don’t you think….” She started and then pointed to the sabers “If that crystal was sentient, then it had been waiting for decades for someone worthy, and now it could rest easy knowing these hilts were in good hands.”

“I’m not that good.” Tris murmured as feeling a bit self-conscious.

“I-” She was cut off as C1 came barging into the room from the cockpit waving its mechanical arms wildly. “What’s the matter?” She asked as the droid let out a series of worrying beeps.

“You’ve picked up an SOS?” She quickly stood up as both hurried to the cockpit. Navida took her place behind the controls. “Where did it originate from?” C1 indicated to the nav computer that was displaying a nearby planetoid.

“This distress signal is old.” Navida frowned. “Empire old.” She said turning to her companion slightly.

“It wasn’t there before.” C473 stated. “What would an old Empire SOS even be doing out here in the Unknown Regions?”

“I don’t know, but we are going to find out.” She said as she angled the ship towards the planetoid. The planetoid had no atmosphere but as they got closer they could see some activity from where the signal originated.

“The ship’s shields will keep the atmosphere in.” C473 stated as he saw what appeared to be an ongoing chase on the surface. Several armed vehicles were chasing a single hovercraft that had seen better days. “The signal is originating from the one being pursued?” he asked and Navida nodded. “I’ll lower the back ramp if you can get in front of them.”

“Do you doubt my piloting skills?”

“I haven’t seen your skills.” he stated. “I was unconscious.”

“Right” Navida stated before making a sharp turn causing Tris to grip the doorway to steady himself. C1 beeped something along the lines of ‘Another maniac!!’ when the droid nearly slid from its console.

“Get to the ramp.” Navida ordered. “We’re picking up someone interesting!”

“You’re just curious about who could be using an old Imperial signal!” He shouted back.

“Of course I am!” Navida shouted back as the ramp slowly lowered. C473 had to hold onto a handlebar as the ship lurched slightly and lowered. From the ramp he could see the cracked helmet of the person steering the hovercraft. The helmet jerked up slightly at the appearance of their ship and the clone waved for the person to speed up to get on the ramp. He had to duck however when one of the crafts pursuing started firing blaster bolts at their ship. One nearly came too close to his head. The person being pursuit didn’t meet more prompting, the hovercraft gained speed as the engine started emitting smoke.

It must have been a snap decision as the pilot abandoned his control of the now smoking hovercraft that was slowly losing speed, and decided to jump towards the open ramp. The clone acted quickly as the figure hit the ramp and started to slide down it. A hand grabbed a gloved arm and quickly pulled him up the ramp with the discrete use of the Force. Once both were in the hold he closed the hatch and called to Navida to leave the planetoid.

The clone observed the hunched over figure as shaking hands unlatched the helmet from the suit he was wearing. He was surprised to see long, slightly disheveled, hair framing a blue face. “Thank you for saving me.” The figure said as he turned his red eyes towards C473. “I owe you a debt.”

C473 nodded slightly as he still looked at the man he had rescued. “Just….. Who are you?” He asked cautiously.

“Oh, where are my manners.” The figure said as both stood up. C473 observed that the man stood at attention without meaning to. ‘Military training?’ His mind mused as he focused on what the man said next.

“My name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo.” He introduced. C473 tried to pronounce it but he didn’t get very far. A slight chuckle escaped the blue man. He then said “Most simply call me Thrawn.”


	8. Chapter 8

**244CORE Part 2**

C473 eyed the blue-skinned humanoid that stood in front of him. His space suit had seen better days and was caked with space dust. “Thrawn” He said with a raised eyebrow as the man gave a short nod. “Call me Tris” He told the man as he indicated for him to follow. They entered the room that the clone woke up in and Navida came from the cockpit. “A Chiss?!” Navida exclaimed in surprise as she saw the person they rescued stand at attention. “A Chiss with an old Empire SOS beacon?” She mumbled more to herself as her eyes narrowed.

“And this is Navida.” He introduced and wondered what she was going on about.

“Ah, this charming young lady is the pilot of your vessel. I am Thrawn.” Thrawn stated as he observed the blue Twi’lek. “I’m surprised, you remind me of another Twi’lek pilot I used to know years ago.”

Tris raised a brow feeling that there was a story behind that but before he could ask anything he heard Navida say in an icy voice “I know who you are _Grand Admiral_. You were sent to snuff out the Twi’lek rebellion on Ryloth afterall.”

“I will not excuse any actions I have taken during my military career.” He told Navida pointedly. “But I am however no longer a Grand Admiral. I haven’t been one for several years.”

“Why were those men chasing you?” Navida now asked.

“I would assume that they wanted me dead.” Thrawn stated.

“Well, we’ll be at 244CORE within a few hours for a resupply.” She told both of them. “I’m sure you can find your way from there.”

“Very well, but I don’t know how welcome I would be on 244Core now.” Thrawn stated as Tris raised a brow. “I owe you both my life and wish to repay it properly.”

“Well, maybe you could tell us why you were being chased?” Tris asked and tried to appeal to the tactician’s side he observed from the man, afterall you don’t get to be Grand Admiral of any galactic power without being able to back it up. “If you’re coming with us then it would be prudent to know what dangers we might face being associated with you.”

Thrawn gave a small nod as he sat down, fingers laced in front of him, back straight. The Lothcat, who had been lying under an ornate metal table, popped its head out and observed the man with caution before jumping out entirely and making his way quickly to the bridge where C1 gave a startled beep and was followed by a crash and more annoyed beeping. Thrawn raised a brow at the Lothcat but then turned back to his two rescuers that had also taken a seat.

“To explain this in detail I would have to go back to before I joined the Empire.” He stated. “I was part of the military belonging to the Chiss Ascendancy. One day I was tasked with an important mission, to evaluate the Galactic powers outside the Unknown regions and determine if either the Republic or the Empire would be valuable allies for my people.”

“Why?” Navida asked.

“That I cannot tell you. It is of no relevance to what happened here.” He stated. Tris swept a light tendril of the Force at Thrawn to read his surface thoughts to see what he was hiding. He found Thrawn’s mind guarded extremely well. The Chiss merely raised a brow in Tris’s direction, indicating that he knew what the clone was doing, but said nothing. He must be used to mental probing Tris mused and wondered if he had been subjected to it repeatedly to build up those defenses.

“As you can imagine. I successfully infiltrated the Empire and afterwards rose through the ranks fairly quickly. I was to secure the Empire as an ally to the Chiss but was defeated on Lothal before that could happen. My stardestroyer was sent flying into hyperspace and ended up somewhere in the Unknown Regions. When I managed to make it back to my homeplanet, Csilla, they were less than pleased with what had transpired.”

“So you got into trouble with the higher ups.” Navida commented as Thrawn gave a nod.

“The Chiss Ascendancy is not so forgiving for failure.” he sighed. “I was exiled after a farce of a hearing and sent into space with minimal provisions.”

“How do the people chasing you factor in?” Tris asked.

“My provisions, of course, would not last indefinitely so I sought other employment. That was how I came to 244Core. As you must know, it is a corporate controlled government. The main mining companies vying for control of the planet are Eeook Mining and Reclamation and Tor-Ro-Bo Industries.”

“Well, both companies employ their fair share of industrial spies.” Navida thought out loud. “You’d be right at home there.”

“Yes, my unique skill set did get me employment swiftly, however I was not engaging in industrial espionage yet.”

“Yet?” Both asked skeptically.

“It was after a certain incident that it became necessary.” Thrawn stated as he looked straight at the two. “I was employed as the mining supervisor for the western region belonging to Eeook. The area contained several mines. That was where I met Dro. He was the foreman of the largest rare metal mine in that area and he quickly became one of the few I consider a friend.”

“Did this incident involve your friend then?” Navida asked.

“It involved his daughter.” Thrawn admitted. “A young girl. She was kidnapped by spies employed by Tor-Ro-Bo. They threatened Dro to halt mining operations in return for his daughter but the company president would not listen and ordered the mining operations to resume. Closing that mine would have had a major impact on the finances of the company and that would have been enough to tip the ongoing power struggle.”

“That’s heartless!” Navida exclaimed.

“Indeed,” Thrawn stated. “Dro asked me if I knew of a way to save his daughter and that was where the plan began. I planned to infiltrate Tor-Ro-Bo Industries and find the whereabouts of the girl.”

“You didn’t succeed?” The Twi’lek now asked as she looked concerned.

“I did. Dro and his daughter have already been reunited. They decided that 244Core was much too dangerous and opted to find a new planet to settle on.” He explained. “The plan however needed me to give up my job. The men that shot down my ship and subsequently chased me were most likely bounty hunters hired by both companies.”

“UGH, well you certainly know how to make waves.” Navida grumbled as Tris caught on to what was happening. “So Tor-Ro-Bo sent hunters after you as retaliation and Eeook sent some to silence you in case you took company secrets with you.” He stated as he assessed the blue man.

“Can we have a moment?” Navida asked as she quickly grabbed Tris’s arm and dragged him to the bridge. Once the doors wooshed shut C1 beeped annoyed and pointed to a console the droid had been using where the Lothcat languidly lay with not a care in the galaxy.

“No C1, you may not throw the cat out of the airlock.” C473 groaned as the droid started cursing Lothcats in general now. He then looked at Navida. “What did you want to talk about?”

“We can’t go to 244Core now. We’d be considered accomplices. The bountyhunters will be after us just as much as him.” She reasoned.

“They would already be after us since we rescued him. I doubt that they aren’t searching for this ship now as it is.” Tris told her. “Do we even have enough fuel to make it to another planet?”

“No” Navida sighed. “The fuel cells were already half depleted when we stole it.”

“What if he stays on the ship while we resupply.” Tris suggested. Navida shot him a look of disbelief and put her hands on her hips. “You are actually suggesting that a former Grand Admiral of the Empire, a spy, and Makers knows what else stays unsupervised on my ship!!!” She incredulously exclaimed. “Have you gotten a read on him?”

“Not exactly. His mind is guarded.” Tris mentioned.

“So we don’t even know if what he told us was the truth at all. I certainly don’t want to get stranded on a mining planet again.”

“Again?” C1 asked with a beep.

“Long story.” She grumbled. “I’m not leaving him unsupervised.” She stated and then suddenly smiled as she looked at Tris. “I have a solution though. You stay with Thrawn on the ship and I go to gather the supplies.”

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Tris mumbled.


	9. Chapter 9

**244CORE Part 3**

  
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Tris repeated as he watched Navida pull her brown cloak around herself. They had safely docked at 244Core and were busy refueling. Now all that was left were the supplies.

“You have a bad feeling about everything.” Navida deadpanned. “I’ll just be gone for a little while so relax.” She said, patting her side where she had stowed a blaster, and then held out her hand. “Give me the pieces you need. I’ll see what I can do.” Tris sighed but handed over the small lightsaber pieces that had been damaged.

C1 chirped happily as he got to accompany Navida. The Lothcat, surprisingly, had warmed up to Thrawn and was currently lying on his lap while being petted. Once Navida had left Thrawn spoke up “You know, these creatures caused me various amounts of trouble on Lothal yet they are surprisingly docile.” In response the Lothcat let out a very satisfying purr while flicking his ears and showing his teeth during a yawn.

Tris cocked his head slightly as he observed the situation. It was rather funny seeing the severe blue alien simply sit down and pet a fuzzy animal. An animal he suspected was slightly more in tune with the Force than normal. Wild animals, especially those captured by smugglers, were not known to be so docile around new people. “If I may inquire, who exactly are you?” Thrawn suddenly asked, catching Tris off guard. The clone raised a brow but said nothing still. “The woman and you act like simple travelers but you are so much more than that.” Thrawn continues unperturbed by the silence. “I know that your friend doesn’t trust me. So the only logical reason why you stayed behind was to keep an eye on me.”

“Well there is no reason to deny that fact.” Tris stated bluntly as he gripped the armrest, ready to counter anything Thrawn might have planned.

“I mean you no harm, rest assured. You saved my life and I do owe you. I was merely making an observation.” Thrawn said as he sat opposite to the clone and observed him.

“An observation…….” Tris mumbled.

“Yes, wouldn’t you find it odd that a man of smaller stature is tasked with keeping an eye on me, someone who is significantly larger, and has undergone hand to hand combat training.” At this point Thrawn stopped petting the Lothcat and laced his fingers together. The Lothcat gave a small whine and nudged him slightly with its head. “Returning to my observation, there can only be two choices; one, you did not think it through that I might overpower you or two, you know exactly what I am capable of but you don’t see me as much of a threat, which means that there is more to you than meets the eye.”

“You forgot that there is a third option.” The clone smirked. Thrawn’s red eyes focused on him and he raised a brow as if asking to explain. “You don’t want to get the pilot of this ship angry and have her dump you on a planetoid.”

Thrawn’s other eyebrow crept up as well. “Well, that is a valid point.” He agreed. “I also do not wish to be left stranded on a planetoid.”

Tris was about to add something when he saw the Lothcat get up and stiffen. Its fluffy tail bristling as it growled at the still closed ship door. “Well they certainly didn’t waste time.” Thrawn mused as he was about to stand up to face their incoming intruders.

“You can sit down.” Tris advised him. Thrawn’s eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the lanky man still sitting in his seat, his back to the airlock.

“Would it not be prudent that we take these bounty hunters by surprise?” Thrawn asked as he hesitantly sat back down.

“Oh, they’ll be surprised.” Tris gave Thrawn a wicked smirk that made the Chiss slightly apprehensive. “But I don’t want Navida to get angry at a damaged door so I’ll finish this quickly.” he mumbled while flicking his wrist. Tris used the Force to initiate the opening mechanisms of the airlock. Four masked figures were standing dumbly on the other side, one had crouched to deal with the external airlock controls. The bounty hunters weren’t in shock for long though. They charged in a few seconds after the doors whooshed open, their blasters trained on Thrawn and Tris who merely gave them a lazy glance.

“Get on the ground!!” The middle bounty hunter said, taking a threatening step forward when neither Thrawn nor Tris reacted. His voice was gruff and Tris could feel the aggravation roll off of him at his orders being ignored. Tris let out a sigh and flicked his wrist just as the aggravated hunter shouted “On the ground you bas-AAAAAAAHHHH” The man and the other three then shouted as they were flung into the ceiling of the ship. Their blasters were flung out of their hands and came to rest near Tris’s feet. Another flick of the wrist and the four crashed down onto the floor hard. Tris then lazily waved his hand and sent the four hunters barreling past them into the ceiling and walls.

“Now you are just showing off.” Thrawn said as the hunters kept bouncing against the hull. “If you are this powerful then why not simply choke them.” The Chiss had seen his fair share of the Force, most of those consisted of Darth Vader Force choking someone.

“They aren’t worth it,” The clone told Thrawn. “and besides this is more entertaining.” At this point the hunters were slumped in a pile, completely unconscious.

“Explain something to me, I’ve seen many Force users, both Jedi and Sith, yet you behave like neither. The Jedi would have incapacitated them, the Sith would have killed them. Which are you?” Thrawn asked.

“Well I was raised to be a Sith Lord.” Tris admitted. He had been thinking about it a lot even if he hadn’t voiced any of his thoughts yet. “But I suppose you can consider me to be somewhere in between. Neither the teachings of the Jedi or the Sith appeal to me much.” Tris shrugged as if it was not a big deal. But it was something he had been, and probably was still trying to grasp. He was admitting to this but wasn’t prepared to bare his thoughts to anyone yet, especially one he couldn’t fully read.

They stayed chatting in relative silence around them, the occasional groan of the hunters was silenced by knocking them out again. When Navida returned she raised a brow and asked “You’ve been playing with your food I see.” C1 however let out a series of frantic beeps as it rolled down the path where the bounty hunters had been slammed against parts of the hull.

“Oh, come on!” C473 answered the droid. “You’re seriously worried about some small dents!” C1 let out another series of beeps that were something along the lines of “It’s durasteel, it’s not supposed to dent!!”

“I got what you needed and the supplies are being loaded into the hull right now.” Navida told him as she deposited the new parts on the table. “Also, I might have a job for you.”

“A job?” Tris asked perplexed.

“Yeah, there was a mine collapse not so far from here. It seems like several important visitors are also trapped in the shaft when the collapse happened. They are offering a large reward to anyone being able to free their personnel and guests.” Navida explained as she patted the somewhat sulking C1. “I was thinking since we need money if we’re going to keep wandering space, and they are offering it, that you can do your Force thingy and get us that reward. Those people will be saved and we’ll have enough credits to resupply next time.”

“They must be some pretty important people that the mining companies don’t want to antagonize.” Thrawn mused aloud. “There is normally no rescue operation for trapped workers.”

“That’s barbaric!” Navida shouted upon hearing it. The Lothcat that was rubbing against her startling slightly.

“The corporations on this planet are the law. There is no safety assurances, workers contracts or unions on this planet.” Thrawn stated. “They would not want to lose productivity over trapped workers.”

“What I can do depends on the stability of the shaft.” Tris told her as Navida started the pre-flight check.

“Alright, we’ll land at the mining dome. It shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. The ship lifted out of the port moments later, after Tris had dumped the bounty hunters on one of the walkways of the port, and flew low over the barren grey landscape. Mining domes littered the area showing off large open pit mines that had shafts extending deeper towards the hard to reach ore veins. Navida set the ship at one of the mining ports and she and Thrawn disembarked with Tris. C1 remained behind to watch the ship.

“That’s the guy I spoke to.” Navida pointed to a portly man with a receding hairline that was graying along the edges. “He was in the city recruiting people for this rescue mission.”

“I haven’t met him before.” Thrawn told them quietly.

“I can read him from here.” Tris mumbled as they walked closer. “The nervousness is dripping off of him in waves.”

The man seemed to have finally spotted them and hurried to the group. “Miss Navida you came!”

“Of course.” She answered and Tris let out a quiet groan. Of course she had already made a business arrangement with this man.

“You said you had a solution to my predicament.” The portly man nervously wrung his fingers. “Do we need to have some men set up equipment for you?”

“No need.” Navida told the man and then pointed at her companion. “Just let Tris here start and everything should be just fine.”

“Miss Navida, you are gesturing towards one man. We have a mine collapse due to sabotage that may cause us a lucrative contract and my job.”

“ _You owe me for this._ ” Tris mentally told Navida who coughed discreetly. He then turned to the chubby man who was trying to argue with Navida. Thrawn merely observed the situation, not offering any input to get them moving along. “Look” He addressed the man. “If I don’t get them out you don’t have to pay us. If I get them out you pay us and keep your job. So why don’t we take a look at the situation first before deciding.”

“But….. but….. But…….” The man sputtered. “You are just one person!” Tris however wasn’t listening anymore and started walking towards the mine shaft.

“Oh, he’s done listening to you.” Navida told the portly man as she rubbed her temple and watched her partner walk into the mine shaft. All they could do now was wait. Those that had also assembled to help blinked cluelessly as they watched Tris enter.

The wait was long, more than three hours passed before anything happened. Everyone turned when they heard sounds getting closer out of the mine shaft. Suddenly people, covered in dust and grime, ran out shouting in happiness. Tris was the last one out and he looked absolutely filthy.

“Who…. how…. Huh… what… HOW?!” The portly man sputtered as he watched the happy rescued workers. Those injured were loaded on gurneys and taken to the medical ships docked.

Navida let out a fake cough to get the man’s attention. “Oh yes! Right.” The portly man gestured for a neatly dressed woman to come forward just as Tris reached them. The woman was carrying a chest, that she opened to show them the amount of credits they were receiving. “As promised.”

“I think we’ll be good with this for a couple of supply stops.” Navida mumbled as she accepted the credits.

“Can I ask you something?” Tris suddenly spoke starling the portly man. “To what organization did those people belong?” He gestures to the freed VIPs that were being checked over. To Navida he mentally sends “ _I got a weird reading off of them._ ”

“Oh, they call themselves the First Order.”

**\------------------To be continued-------------------**

****AN: whooo finally a new chapter. I've been in a writing slump for the past week. Looks like things are getting juicier. A new planet is up next of course and new adventures.** **


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: IT'S MAY THE 4TH SO ALL OF YOU WILL BE GETTING 2 CHAPTERS TODAY!

**Savro part 1**

“No…… Just NO!” Tris exclaimed, clad in only a towel held tightly around his waist, as he looked at the clothing Navida was offering him. “Why do you even think I would wear that?!”

“Have you forgotten who The Aurora belonged to first?” Navida chastised. “I just spent twenty minutes raiding a closet while you were taking a shower. This was the only piece of clothing that could actually be classified as clothing.”

“More than half of this is sheer! Where am I even going to hide my weapons?” The clone frantically gestured to the offered clothing. Thrawn, who had found himself a datapad, couldn’t help but be amused even though he tried to hide it.

“Would you rather have the emerald leather male bikini that was hanging next to it?” Navida asked as she gave the clothing to Tris.

“And why can’t I have my old robes back?” He asked still clutching the towel.

“Because they were rags from Makers knows where, and filthy from the mines. I had C1 chuck them out of the airlock after removing all your belongings from the pockets.”

“He… You….. what!!” Tris shouted to which the droid let out an exasperated sigh.

“It’s either this or the bikini!” Navida stated with her hands on her hips before giving a slight shudder. “I don’t even want to know how the other clothing articles in that closet were used!”

“Fine” C473 grumbled, finally snatching the red cloth before turning around and reentering the refresher. When he returned he was in a foul mood as the clothing fit him perfectly. Red cloth, interwoven with golden strands hid most of his _assets_ , the rest was simply sheer, see-through, and would probably get ripped due to its delicate nature. The split in the clothing did not improve Tris’s mood as it only complicated the ways he could hide his weapons.

“You look like a princeling.” Thrawn commented, glanced up briefly before his eyes focused on the datapad again. Tris pursed his lips “I look ridiculous.” He grabbed his stuff that Navida had left on the low table and tried to fit them all in the new clothes. “Where are we heading next anyways?”

“I asked Navida to take us to Giaca.” Thrawn told him. “There is someone there who you must meet. Especially with those visions you’ve mentioned that you’ve been getting.”

Tris watched Thrawn with wide eyes “You think this person could make sense of these visions?”

“I don’t know.” Thrawn told him. “But he is the only one I can think of now. Also why haven’t you told your friend about these visions.” Tris looked away slightly as Thrawn continued “From what I have observed she would be more than willing to help you. Is it because you don’t wish to worry her?” Still Tris said nothing but his hands clenched. “Or is it that you don’t want to get more attached than you already are.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Tris directed to the blue humanoid with a deadly hiss.

“You believe that attachments would corrupt you, make you weak.” Thrawn calmly stated. “At times you are still thinking like a Sith.”

“It is not like I can sud-AAH” Tris shouted as the Lothcat, that had been walking around, suddenly jumped him. “What the kriff!” He exclaimed as he yanked the puffed up animal from his face. Before he could utter another word however the ship started to shake. “Navida what’s going on?!” He asked, clutching the frantic Lothcat as he and Thrawn made their way towards the bridge. C1 one appeared to be in full panic mode as their pilot shouted “ Gravitic ripples! Hold on to something.”

“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” Tris shouted as they all strapped themselves down while the ship tumbled through space and tried to avoid the ripples. “Where did those even come from?” There wasn’t much time to ponder that as Navida yelled “Emergency landing! Brace for impact.” He could have sworn he heard C1 beep a groan of “Not again!”

Tris slowly opened his eyes as he heard Navida call “All of you alright?” He tried to unbuckle himself only to find that the Lothcat had, painfully, attached itself to his arm. Its fur was still puffed up and its ears stood straight up, teeth were bared and small black eyes narrowed. He tried to carefully unbuckle himself and not scare the animal that still must have been in shock. It certainly wouldn’t do to have those claws digging any deeper. He heard Thrawn’s reply that they seemed fine and he was sure everyone was thankful that the ship’s furniture was bolted down.

Navida’s grunt came from the open door to the bridge and it was followed by a flurry of beeped curses that were worse after the droid’s second crash landing. “Hold your servos C1!” Navida could be heard chastising. “How did you even get stuck behind that panel?”

Tris had finally detached the Lothcat from him and it curled around his neck, not wanting to be far from his human. “What happened?” He asked as he saw a disgruntled droid sulking while Thrawn and Navida checked the computers.

“The ripples were far too dangerous to travel through. We got pulled out of hyperspace by just one of them. Any longer and the ship might have been torn to bits.” She explained. “Don’t worry the ship still seems operable. We will just have to wait until the ripples pass to depart.”

“The atmosphere seems breathable.” Thrawn added. “Class M planet, three small moons, and covered for 90 percent in water. This seems to be the only large continent on the planet. I see no lifesign readings.”

“There is life.” Tris commented, gaining the attention of the two. “It doesn’t matter what the computer says. The Force is practically singing here.”

“What do you feel?” Navida asked. “Are they hostile? Can we safely move outside?”

“There seems to be a small settlement due west of here. It might be out of the sensor’s range and from what I can tell they show absolutely no hostile tendencies.”

“Well that’s good to hear.” Navida said as C1 gave an agreeing chirp.

“No, it’s weird. To be entirely devoid of hostile emotions should be impossible.”

“Tris………” Navida looked at him with a certain expression. Tris could already read what she wanted to do and mentally counted to ten. “You want to go exploring.” He stated, looking at the woman. Even C1 let out a few beeps that meant “No No No”.

“I am also rather curious about this settlement now.” Thrawn spoke up. “If they are as unique as you say then they are worth observing.”

“Not you too.” Tris groaned. “And if they do turn out to be our enemies?”

“An enemy will almost never be anything except an enemy. All one can do with an enemy is defeat him.” Thrawn stated, standing at parade rest. Tris let out a resigned grumble before nodding.

“Well come on let’s go!” Navida eagerly strapped on two blaster pistols that the bounty hunters had so graciously left behind, and gave Tris and Thrawn one each. C1 let out a few concerned beeps as they opened the airlock. Outside seemed to represent a tropical rainforest. Large trees gave them shade from the sunlight and the red sky. A deep indent through the thick foliage showed where their ship had made its landing. C1 commented that “At least this ship stayed intact.” which earned him a thump on his dome from Tris.

“This planet wasn’t on the list of explored planets on the nav computer so we might be the only humans, and Chiss here. It will be quite a chore to chart our way back to a hyperspace lane.” Navida explained as they started walking west. Tris was leading them as he could sense where the settlement was. His sheer clothing however was proving to be remarkable sturdy as some parts got caught on twigs.

They had stopped to rest for a short while, Navida was leaning against a large tree when the group heard some rustling nearby. Hands immediately went to their blasters as the rustling sounds got closer. Their astromech carefully hid behind a large tree as it found that to be the safest place for anyone right now.

They had expected danger, maybe a wild animal looking for food. What they hadn’t expected was Tris to be knocked to the ground by a small grey looking creature. The creature appeared to be humanoid and was wearing some type of clothing. It did not make any threatening moves but looked around fearfully at Thrawn and Navida who had their blasters raised.

“Wait! Don’t shoot! It’s a child.” Tris shouted, reading the creature with the Force, as he picked himself off the ground. The creature backed off of him but before it could run off several blaster shots were fired at the group. Everyone acted quickly, Thrawn and Navida found shelter behind the large tree that she had been leaning on. Tris scooped up the small frightened humanoid and bolted behind a different tree. From out of the foliage came a rundown hovercraft carrying several gruff and grime covered men armed with very large blasters. The men spotted Navida and one of then grinned evilly.

“Guys we got a Twi’lek here! She’ll go for a pretty penny!” He shouted as the others cheered him on. The men, humans it seemed, that must have been chasing the small humanoid now focused their sights on Navida. Their constant blaster fire was pinning both Thrawn and Navida down.

‘This day just can’t get any worse can it?’ Tris thought as he set the little humanoid down. It looked at him with big black eyes. Its entire eyes seem to consist of large pupils. The clone made a shushing motion hoping the child would stay quiet as he unclipped one of the lightsabers that he had strapped to his thigh. The saber sprang to life, a red plasma blade humming steadily at a low frequency. The clone took a deep breath and then came out of his hiding spot, lightsaber in one hand while the other hand held the beginnings of a Force lightning blast. These fools wouldn’t know what hit them.


	11. Chapter 11

**Savro part 2**

The blaster fire had stopped when Tris charged at them, catching them completely off guard. The Force lightning hit the hovercraft causing the engines to overload and explode. The force of the explosion sent those that had been targeting the Twi’lek sprawling to the ground. Tris then used his lightsaber to make quick work of them before they could come to their senses.

“Who are they?!” Navida asked as she and Thrawn came up from their cover along with C1. She studied the prone bodies when something caught her attention. “Oh Makers” She exclaimed pointing to a symbol that was tattooed onto one of the men’s biceps. “These are Outcasts. Some of the worst slavers in the Unknown Regions.”

“This planet may be their base of operations.” Thrawn mused. “A virtually unknown planet away from hyperspace lanes seems a plausible option.”

“They must have been too far away for Tris to sense.” Navida mused. “But that still begs the question as to why they were chasing that kid.”

At the reminder of the unknown humanoid child they turned around to see the little humanoid bang on C1’s dome with great curiosity. C1 however was not amused and let out a startled beep before rolling backwards. Navida approached and bent down as to not startle the child. “Hey there…..” She said, keeping her voice pleasant. Large pupils looked at her, then at Tris, and finally they landed on Thrawn. Before Navida could utter anything else the child exclaimed “Haliha!! Haliha!!” and ran off, back through the thick foliage, in the direction that it came from.

“That wasn’t Basic Galactic. Could any of you understand that?” Navida asked, perplexed by the child’s behavior. Both Thrawn and Tris shook their heads.

“He ran in the direction that I’m sensing the settlement.” Tris told them. “These Outcasts might have attacked them. It’s best to be careful.”

They slowly started walking towards the direction the child had disappeared to, leaving the corpses of the slavers and the burnt hovercraft behind them. It was after two hours of walking that things got interesting. Thrawn stopped them when his keen hearing picked up sounds coming towards them. These sounds however did not seem threatening, Tris sensed awe, excitation, skepticism, and reverence. It did not take them long to come face to face with the origins of the sounds. The small grey humanoid child was back but this time he brought older humanoids with them. They stood, weaponless before the group that had Navida pausing to reach for her blaster. “Haliha! Haliha!” The child exclaimed once again, pointing at their group. A frenzy of words followed from the older humanoids before they got onto their knees and bowed deep to the group.

“Do you think this is some form of greeting?” Tris whispered low to the others. He had never seen humanoids act like this before. The child approached them and took Tris’s hand and tugged. “Haliha, Haliha, saquare!”

“Eh…….” Tris wasn’t sure how he should answer the kid and just looked lost. The child tugged again and this time he decided to follow in that direction.

“This is rather interesting.” Thrawn stated as he observed the humanoids stand up as soon as Tris decided to follow the child. They were flanked by the humanoids as they followed after Tris, the humanoids mumbling something in their language that they couldn’t understand. “I would certainly like to know more about their fascinating civilization. They seem to be associating Tris with the word Haliha. I wonder just what that means.”

“Well they approached us without weapons.” Navida mumbled. “I don’t think that they have any bad intentions. Maybe they just want us to thank us for saving that child?”

“If their society is one giant community I could see something like this happening.” Thrawn confirmed. “But it would take more observations to conclude that.”

“Right” Navida nodded as she watched the procession. The humanoids that flanked them had yet to look them in the eyes, it seemed like they were intentionally avoiding doing that. They wore primitive clothing, a simple brown or beige robe reaching to their knees that was tied with a sash of similar color.

They soon came upon a well worn path that they followed to a peculiar village. From their clothing it looked like these people were quite primitive, having not yet learned how to craft metals. The settlement they came to was anything but. Instead of huts made of wood from the forest they were crafted of stone. The stones packed so tightly together without mortar that only tiny seams could be seen. The remnants of ruins littered the settlement. Large stone or metal towers, covered in ivy, moss, and weathered from the humidity of the jungle jutted out in various places.

“Intriguing!” She heard Thrawn say with a hint of fascination as he studied the village and its inhabitants. “These structures, they were not crafted by these people.” Meanwhile the humanoid inhabitants had approached the group in curiosity. Several were chanting the same word the child had shouted as they allowed them passage to the middle of the village. Tris was not so far from Navida and to her it seemed that more of the inhabitants’ attention was on him.

C1 let out a startled beep as he was poked and prodded. Even the Lothcat on Tris’s shoulders looked mildly alarmed at the inhabitants. They managed to join Tris in the center as more villagers came to the square. “This is becoming insane.” Navida told her partner as she bumped into him.

“YAAAAHHH!!!!” Was shouted suddenly, quieting the curious villagers. Many suddenly walked backwards, giving Tris, Navida, and Thrawn some breathing room. A small path opened up as the grey inhabitants let a smaller but muscled, decked out in jewelry made of woven cloth and several gem-like rocks, older grey humanoid through. Its large pupils narrowed as he looked at all three of them. He then turned and shouted something to those gathered that had the crowd mumbling in their language that the trio and droid still couldn’t decipher.

“I don't think he likes us very much.” Navida whispered to both men as they watched the smaller grey humanoid frantically wave the ornate staff that he was carrying around. Thrawn was silently observing the situation. “Let’s get out of here.” Tris told the others and indicated that they should quietly leave while the man was still ranting.

Their departure however did not go totally unnoticed. The child that had led Tris here along with a younger one ran in front of them. The child said something that Tris and the others couldn’t comprehend as an older humanoid, most likely his mother, was trying to shush him. Yet the boy didn’t stop. Tris felt worry and sadness from the child before the boy ran past them and towards the man that seemed to be admonishing the people in the square.

The boy shouted something at the man causing him to still. He then gestured to them, and told him something else that got the jewel wearing man angry. “I thought you said that they were not hostile.” Thrawn asked as he took in the scene of the staff wielding man advancing on the boy.

“It’s not hostility I’m sensing.” Tris stated as he narrowed his eyes. “It’s disgust, I will tell you more later. This is getting out of hand.” He stated as he saw the man lift his staff to strike the child. Thrusting out his hand, Tris called upon the Force to help him. He sent a Force wave at the man, knocking the staff out of his hand and causing him to skid backwards. Gasps rang through the crowd as the boy, who had closed his eyes upon seeing that he would be hit, looked at the man that now lay further from him on the ground. “Haliha!” The boy shouted and surprisingly it rang through the assembled crowd as they all bowed low. Even the man that had wanted to strike the boy got down on his knees and bowed.

“What the kriff!” Tris exclaimed as he looked at the bowing inhabitants.

“It seems they think we, or more likely you, are gods.” Thrawn drawled out.

“We do end up in the most bizarre situations.” Navida mumbled as she wasn’t sure what to do.


	12. Chapter 12

**Savro part 3**

_“Hello!! Hey…… eh…. Can you hear me?” A voice asked as Tris felt something poking him in the shoulder. He cracked open an eye and came face to face with a mop of auburn hair and two green eyes staring at him. The person also seemed to have the same face as him._

_“You have got to be kidding me.” He groaned. “Of all the Force visions, why did it have to involve the person I was cloned from?”_

_“Oh, this isn’t a Force vision. I just wanted to talk to you for a bit.” Hiccup nervously chuckled. Tris sat up and got a suspicious look on his face. “What do you want? I hardly believe you made a Force connection just to talk.” He huffed._

_“Can’t someone make a Force connection with their clone to see how they are doing?” Hiccup asked lifting a brow. Tris gave him a look that clearly said ‘No’. “Look……. I know we might have started on the wrong foot.” Hiccup now nervously chuckled._

_“We tried to kill each other.” Tris deadpanned._

_“Yeah, Astrid told me this might be a bad idea, but we didn’t see you when battling Aries and while dumping Dagur and Camicazi down a garbage chute.”_

_“I was busy killing the slavers Camicazi sold me to.” Tris dryly stated. An awkward silence ensued before Tris asked “Wait….. You stuck Dagur and Camicazi in a garbage chute?”_

_“_ Yup _” Hiccup smirked._

_“I’d pay to see that.”_

_“So…………. You’re my clone.” it seems Hiccup hadn’t thought much of this conversation_ through _. “What’s your name?”_

 _“_ C473 _” He told Hiccup._

 _“That’s a number.”_  
 _“Astute_ observation. _” Tris remarked. “Clones aren’t given names.”_

_“Well, whoever cloned you got the sarcasm right.” Hiccup grinned._

_“I suppose if you do not want to call me that, you may call me Tris. Navida insists on calling me that.”_

_“Is she your girlfriend?” Hiccup asked, leaning closer._

_“No, we are just traveling_ together. _” Tris mumbled and then raised a brow at Hiccup’s eagerness._

_“Soooooo……… I was wondering.” Hiccup fiddled with his fingers. “If you’re ever in the Deep Core sector. Would you and your friend like to have dinner with Astrid and me? I’m cooking by the way…… Astrid blew up the last kitchen.”_

_“I’m making no_ promises. _” Tris told Hiccup. To him, this conversation got weirder by the minute._

 _“Right…… eh……. I guess we’ll talk again.” Hiccup bid his goodbyes_ and Tris opened his eyes in reality and then promptly choked as the Lothcat was sleeping on his face. He shoved the cat off and sat up. The room was illuminated with torches which cast a soft glow around. He looked to his right to see C1 in standby mode and Navida and Thrawn sleeping on their own cots. The Lothcat let out a hiss before making his way to cuddle with Navida. The events of the previous day were coming back to Tris and he sighed. After Thrawn’s statement they tried to leave again but this time the villagers cried out in unison. He looked at the bowls of some type of fruit that they had been presented and Thrawn’s statement that night came back into his mind “They must think that we are leaving. These offerings might be them trying to appease us.”

“So you’re saying that they think that they have offended us in some way?” Navida had asked as she tasted one of the fruits once they were alone.

“It seems like it.” Thrawn mused. “I suggest that we try to act naturally and see if we can glean some insight into their society.”

“Getting back to the ship will be troublesome now.” Tris mumbled. “I say we get some sleep now and see what can be done in the morning.”  
Supposedly now it was the morning. Tris couldn’t really tell in the dark room. The burning torches didn’t help much in that aspect. He stood up from his cot and walked to the door. Pushing back the thick cloth that hung over the door he squinted as sunlight hit his eyes. They had been housed in one of the mostly intact towers that jutted out in various parts of the village. These towers seemed to have been converted into living quarters for the more influential people in the settlement. A wooden staircase wound around the towers and Tris walked on one of them to get to back into the main village.

It was morning and Tris hoped to go unnoticed for a while, but the red robe that Navida had given him to wear stuck out like a sore thumb between the villagers who were wearing muted colors. Several children immediately rushed up to him which made him curious. None of the adults approached their group, except yesterday. The man that Tris had flung backwards had quickly shouted commands that everyone followed. He read the surface feelings around them at the time and they were mixed with awe, worry, surprise and even some hope. Tris snapped out of his musings when he felt a tug on his robes. He looked down to see one of the children tugging to get his attention. The child held up a yellowish fruit. It was then that Tris’s stomach decided to voice its hunger. His cheeks turned a bit pink as he accepted the fruit. ‘Might as well go exploring.’ he thought as he started to inspect the village.

Navida opened her eyes an hour or so later when C1’s beeping woke her. “What is it?” She asked while stifling a yawn. The droid was whirring and beeping, waking Thrawn up as well. “What is it saying?” The Chiss asked as he smoothed out his bed hair.

“What do you mean Tris isn’t here!” She exclaimed and then looked towards the cot that he had occupied last night. Her raised voice also woke the Lothcat. The animal poked its head out of the blankets near Navida and purred lazily.

“Okay, where could Tris have gone?” Navida mumbled as she put on her boots. Thrawn did the same and grabbed his coat as well. The two were out of the room in a flash leaving C1 and a mischievous Lothcat alone together. The creature purrs at the droid causing it to exclaim a beep meant to be a groan.

Navida and Thrawn head down the stairs and at the bottom they come face to face with something they never thought they’d see. The big bad former Sith Lord was being pinned down by several squealing children near the square. Some of the small grey humanoids were sitting on his back. Two others were fiddling with his hair. “Look at you mister tall dark and blunt.” Navida teased. “How long has this been going on?”

“Not long. I managed to get a look around the village this morning.” Tris told them. “I have something interesting to show you all.”

“So, how did this happen?” Navida smiled as she looked at the cheerful children.

“They wanted to play as I was observing these people.”

“Did you find out anything interesting?” Thrawn asked as his curiosity was peaked. Tris nodded and then began to explain “it seems that the jewelry, depending on amount and quality, these people wear denotes their social class.” He had observed several jewel wearing humanoids giving out orders that were obeyed without question. “Those of a lower class don’t seem to look those higher than them in the eye. It is rather disconcerting.”

“So there is a small ruling class.” Thrawn summed up. “Then the one from yesterday likely didn’t agree with having his orders being questioned by a child.”

“That’s another thing I noticed.” Tris mumbled as he stood up and placed the laughing children down. “The children here are raised rather oddly.”

“How so?”

“The children are practically raising themselves.” Tris stated. “I have for the past hour not seen an adult look at any of these children. They get into a lot of mischief and some even go alone into the forest to pick food. They only seem to step in when the children offend one of the higher classes.”

“How did you figure that out?” Navida asked intrigued.

“One of the children dropped something on an older man, and who I assumed was the child’s father came running.” He explained. “But that was the only time.”

“Also Tris, can you use your Force thingy to maybe understand what they are saying?” Navida asked.

“I do believe calling the Force a thingy is not the correct definition.” Thrawn quietly stated.

“Oh hush you.” Navida grumbled. “You know what I mean.”

“The Force doesn’t magically let me learn a new language. The best I can do is read feelings and see certain thoughts. It actually has to do with the interesting thing I have to show you.”

“Menneki!! Menneki!!” Was shouted by one of the villagers suddenly as they came running out of the dense forest. “Menneki!” It seemed that this word startled all the humanoids in the settlement. Frantic shouting and chaos unfolded at this single world.

“What is going on!” Navida asked as the people rushed past her.

“Whatever it is will be bad.” Tris told them as several of the children started to cry and latch onto him. “I’m sensing immense feelings of fear and pain.”

“Haliha!” Was shouted by a woman that was carrying a small child. The woman nearly barreled into Tris as she shoved the child into his arms and seemed to be begging something.

“What?” Tris didn’t know what was going on but he now had a child in his arms and the woman was gone. “What just happened?!” he asked as the child clutched onto his robe. One of the humanoids wearing a lot of jewelry spotted the trio and screamed something before hurrying to them and tugging them, along with the children into one of the towers. The room they ended up in was already filled with a lot more children, many of whom were crying. A rumbling sound came from the jungle and the man said something that had the sobbing children quiet down a bit. He gave one more look at the trio before closing the thick curtain that acted as a door.

“What just happened?” Navida asked confused as the shouting from the villagers got less and less while the rumbling from the forest got louder.

“I don’t know.” Tris muttered and frowned. “I can’t seem to sense anything coming. I should be able to sense something.” Navida also found that weird and crept to the curtain to take a peek. She saw all of the adults gathered together. Some were bowing, some huddled together, others seemed to be praying. She wondered what it was that had gotten them in a state like this and then she saw it. Hovercrafts stood parked along the forest edge and men carrying blaster rifles and other weapons were moving to the kneeling villagers.

“Tris, I know what’s going on and why you can’t sense anything.” Navida backed away from the curtain with fright. “We need to keep these children quiet.” She whispered urgently. “The Outcasts have invaded the village.”

“They’re human. How did I not sense them?”

“I saw one carrying a Ysalamir.”

“Oh kriff.” She could hear Tris mutter.


	13. Chapter 13

**Savro part 4**

“So you can’t use your Force powers?” Navida asked as Tris muttered how he hated those small furry lizards.

“It’s not that he can’t use the Force. It is a common misconception. Force powers are in fact repelled.” Thrawn explained. “The Ysalamir only creates a Force-neutral bubble spanning ten meters as a protective measure. Their natural environment included Force-sensitive predators.”

“A ten-meter diameter isn’t big enough to hide all those space pirates.” Navida reasoned. “They must have more with them.”

“One was bad enough.” Tris groaned as he remembered encountering a few in his training with his creator. “I really hate those things.”

“Ssshhh, something’s happening.” Navida shushed them as she peeked outside. The pirates were close enough to their tower in the square that they could hear some of what they were saying. “.......not enough tribute.” She caught one of the men gruffly say as he sneered down at the unarmed and cowering villagers.

“Dunno why Alvin keeps them around.” Another could be heard saying.

“The boss isn’t gonna like this. We’re already low on food.” The previous man replied before grabbing one of the villagers. “Where ya stash the rest?!!” He could be heard shouting.

“They can’t understand you, you numbskull.” Another voice cut in. “You know the boss’ orders. If they can’t deliver they get punished.”

“This can’t be good.” Navida whispered as someone ordered “GET THE CATS!” That word seemed to get a response from the children as they started to whimper again and huddle together further. Navida’s eyes widened when she saw two Sabercats on leashes being dragged out of a hovercraft. The villagers seemed rather nervous as these large horned cats came nearer to them. She heard some sob loudly as one of the cats growled at the prostrated villagers, baring its sharp fangs.

“Oh Maker!” Navida gasped, horrified, as the pirates laughed were enjoying terrifying the villagers. “Are they actually going to let those cats lose on those people?”

However what Navida heard next was far worse. “Get a good whiff kitties!” The man holding the leashes commanded as he let the Sabercats sniff one of the prostrated men. “Time for you to go hunting for some of the kiddies!” Navida couldn’t listen anymore. She stepped back from the curtain with her hand covering her mouth and looked at the others like she was going to be sick. She saw Tris bending down, trying to calm the whimpering children. “Makers, they’re sending the cats after the-” She couldn’t finish her sentence as a loud roar sounded close by. Navida and Thrawn took out their blasters and trained it on the door while Tris stood in front of the children and unclipped his lightsaber from his thigh. He didn’t ignite it yet but tried to feel through the Force. “You guys aim at chest height!” He ordered just as the curtain to the room was ripped open by large paws.

Navida and Thrawn obeyed quickly and shot immediately as the large Sabercat was busy tearing up the curtain. Their shots hit the man holding the leash to the carnivore right in the center of his chest causing him to fall backwards. As the man tumbled backwards, he let go of the leash causing the Sabercat to pounce towards Tris and the children. Stretching out a hand, Tris used the Force to catch the large purple-furred cat mid-pounce. The animal let out a roar of frustration as it tried to move its limbs. After igniting the red-bladed lightsaber he quickly cut down the large cat. As the body of the animal fell to the floor he told the others “Stay here and watch the children.”

“Wait what are you going to do?” Navida asked.

“I’m going to end this.”

“But the Ysalamir?” She worried.

“I could feel that man and beast approaching. The Ysalamirs’ Force-repelling shield does not reach over the whole area.” he informed them as he determinedly walked out of the room and stepped over the dead body of the pirate with ease. He didn’t descend the steps but leapt off the wooden staircase and landed in a crouch in front of the Outcasts, catching their attention.

“Who the hell is that?!” One of the burly men sneered as blasters were aimed at Tris. A roars came from the right of him. One of the other pirates let go of the leash of the second Sabercat, smirking. The large feline charged towards Tris at full speed. The clone didn’t have much time to stop this feline and dodged out of the way, or at least tried to. The cat’s five claws managed to embed themselves into his left leg. The villagers cried out in horror as blood seeped from the large gash while the Sabercat tried to bite Tris’s neck.

‘I’ve had enough of this thing!’ he thought as he let out a burst of Force lightning, flinging the large feline backwards. The smoking carcass of the cat landed on the pirate that had released him, knocking the man off his feet and towards the ground. Tris wobbled a bit and summoned his powered down lightsaber, that was flung out of his hand by the feline’s attack, back to him.

“Looks like this one is dangerous.” One of the men remarked.

“He’s just Force-sensitive. It’s not like he can hurt us with those little parlor tricks if we got this.” Another man laughed as he pointed to the Ysalamir on his shoulder. Tris shot a burst of Force lightning at the pirates. The lightning didn’t hit any of the villagers and instead dissipated against the Force-neutral bubble. “See” The same man from before chuckled. “He can’t even harm us.”

“That wasn’t intended to harm you.” Tris commented loudly enough for the Outcasts to hear.

“Oh really tough guy!” Several men laughed. “What was that little parlor trick for then?”

“What the kriff is he doing?!” Navida asked as she looked outside.

“Just measuring my reach.” Tris smirked before concentrating the Force on his surroundings. Several large boulders floated towards him and then he started throwing them in the direction of the pirates. The boulders caught them by surprise as they weren’t stopped by the Force-neutral bubble, and slammed into the large group of men without hesitation.

Several men had been crushed, others were down on the ground disoriented, while three or four stood up quickly and fired several blaster bolts at Tris.

Tris, holding out his hand, stopped the bolts in mid-air like he had done in Minta’s palace. The men watched the floating plasma bolts incredulously. “You know, giving me ammo was a really bad decision.” Tris mused aloud before sending the plasma bolts back towards the pirates. Those that had survived, only about a fifth of the whole group, turned tail and ran back to their hovercrafts.

“I did not expect him to use rudimentary physics on the pirates.” Thrawn mused as he watched the fleeing slavers. “It is so simple, and yet so ingenious.” Thrawn noticed Tris trying to give chase but the man wobbled and instead pressed his hand to his thigh to try and stop the bleeding.

“That man!” Navida exclaimed as she saw the wound Tris was trying to cover from the tower they were still hiding in with the children. “I’ll kill him if he dares bleed to death!”

“That makes no sense.” Thrawn stated.

“Fine! I’ll revive him and then kill him again!” Navida amended. “And I’ll kick his Force-ghost into next century for good measure for making me worried like this!”

“Duly noted.” Thrawn merely raised a brow while keeping his expression stoic.

“Watch the kids.” Navida ordered as she strode out of the room, determined expression set on her face.

“She does remind me of a certain Miss Syndulla.” Thrawn mused as he looked at the small grey humanoid children that had quieted down after tris had killed the Sabercat. They were staring at him with curious expressions, completely unafraid. “I should have probably mentioned to her that my experience with children is………… highly limited.” He then mumbled, for once not entirely sure what to do.

 

**AN: This chapter is finally out!!! Finally!!! I had to rewrite this a couple of times because action scenes are not my forte. Anywho I hope you have enjoyed it. Next chap things will get interesting. This planet was inspired by the movie 'The Road to El Dorado' if any of you guys were wondering. More adventures to come.... until next chap ;)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait everyone. 2 weeks writers block :(

**Savro part 5**

Navida didn’t have to worry much about Tris because after she walked out of the tower she saw many of the villagers try and fuss over the wound on his leg and apparently some other minor scratches the Sabercat had given him. A protesting Tris was lifted up and then quickly carried back to the room they had been given yesterday. ‘Serves him right for worrying me.’ Navida smirked as she watched him squirm under the attention. She followed behind the worried villagers, and upon noticing her they made a path. She entered their room to hear Tris shouting something in the smaller room adjacent to where they slept. Several women were crowded around the entrance and giggling while C1 rolled over to Navida and beeped with worry.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine.” Navida assured the droid just as they heard Tris shout “Will you stop prodding me!”

“Serves you right!” Navida shouted back as the women left but Tris hadn’t come out yet. “What were you thinking of facing those guys without backup?”

“What do you want me to say!” Tris argued back. “I’m not used to having backup, and everything worked out fine anyway.”

“You got mauled by a Sabercat!” Navida argued back. “You could have died!”

“I could have died a lot of times, what makes this so special?!”

“I can’t believe you!” Navida growled. “Get out here so that we can have a proper discussion!”

“I CAN’T!”

“And why not?” She asked, getting slightly irritated.

“Because I’m naked in here!” Tris shouted back. Navida couldn’t help but suppress a chuckle and wonder if the Force user was blushing in the other room. “The villagers took my clothes with them.” He explained.

“Well ain’t that just grand.” She mumbled.

“Will you hand me one of the blankets?” He asked.

“Why should I?” Navida replied as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall.

“Navida, what do you want me to say?” Tris groaned. “Yes, I went to fight them without backup. No, it did not occur to me to ask you to help. I’ve been taught to only rely on myself all this time.”

“You could at least be more careful!” Navida sighed as she walked to one of the cots to grab a blanket. “I already lost my brother. I don’t want to lose a friend as well.” She finally said as she stuck her hand with the blanket inside the room. Tris quickly took it and she could hear a rustling sound. He came out after a while with the blanket wrapped around his waist. Navida couldn’t help but blatantly stare at the half-naked, surprisingly muscled, Force user. Luckily C1 snapped her out of her musings as the droid let out a few angry beeps before barreling straight into Tris with the Lothcat on his dome.

“Hey now……” Tris mumbled to the droid. “Not you too.” The Lothcat however even didn’t listen, and instead scrambled up Tris’s torso and curled around his neck. The sight was just too much for Navida right now and she began to giggle.

“What?” Tris asked with an eyebrow raised.

“It’s just…….” She said between her laughter. “You….. the cat…… half naked……. Sheet! HAHAHAHA!!”

Thrawn chose that moment to walk into the room. The severe-looking Chiss raised a brow at the ridiculous sight of a black fuzzball draped over the shoulders of a sheet wearing, possibly retired, Sith Lord, and a Twi’lek having a laugh attack.

“Am I interrupting something?” He asked, keeping a straight face, while standing straight with his arms at his side. While not showing anything on his face Tris could sense some mirth coming off the Chiss.

“NO!!” Both Tris and Navida exclaimed simultaneously. Tris pulled the blanket tighter around his waist and then started walking towards the exit.

“Where are you going?” Navida asked.

“There was something I wanted to show you.” Tris reminded them.

“Wait!” Navida exclaimed. “You’re going dressed like that? And what about your wounds?”

“I’m not walking out of this room naked.” Tris deadpanned. “And they dressed the wounds.” He added, lifting the blanket up to show a cloth bandage on his thigh.

“Wait where are we going exactly?” Navida asked as she Thrawn, and even C1 followed after him.

“I think I figured out why there isn’t a single weapon in this village and why they don’t fight back.” Tris told them as they descended from the tower and walked through the village. Some villagers were cleaning up the mess the pirates made, others were now blatantly staring at Tris as he strolled past the houses with only a sheet covering him. Tris didn’t seem to care much and led the group to a dilapidated looking tower.

“As much as I am interested in finding out more about their culture……” Thrawn spoke. “Are you sure this building is structurally sound?”

“It may not look it but there is more to this place than meets the eye.” Tris stated and took a burning torch off the wall. The ground floor held nothing of significance except for rubble and wild plant life. Tris gestured to the back where, upon narrowing her eyes, Navida spotted a staircase heading down. Both she and Thrawn also took torches before descending.

“How did you find this place?” Thrawn asked as the staircase brought them to what seemed to be a large room with a high vaulted ceiling.

“When I scanned the minds of the villagers I found that they regard this place as special. Look around you. What do you see?”

“Not much.” Navida mumbled. “The architecture is strange.” She added. “I thought this was a cavern at first but the walls are too straight.”

“Right. What I wanted you to see is right here.” Tris said as he walked towards a wall.

“Oh my stars.” Thrawn exclaimed as the torches started illuminating the black wall, revealing colorful paintings. “There wasn’t any indication in the village that these people had a system of writing. Why would they hide this?”

“This place came up in images that they associated with the word Haliha.” Tris explained. “I haven’t seen all the wall paintings but they do seem to tell the history of these people. The most interesting part is here.” Tris explained while pointing to a section of the wall. “According to these, at least as far as I can tell, these people were servants.” He indicated to the painting of two different types of humanoids. Those in monotone and simple clothing could be seen bowing to the humanoids dressed in colors and standing on a pedestal. “The Force is strong in this place. If I concentrate enough I might be able to read their past.”

“Is that possible?” Thrawn asked in fascination. “I did not know you could read inanimate objects.”

“Only if they hold special meaning to beings.” Tris explained as he began to sit cross legged on the ground and concentrate. “This place is soaked in feelings written down carefully over decades.”

Tris took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and connected with the Force. A warm but monotone voice flowed out of his mouth, recounting the history of these mysterious villagers. “Long ago, there existed the Prisia. The Prisia were everything, the Prisia wanted everything, they were powerful and could accomplish feats of immeasurable power. The Prisia valued luxury and comfort above all else and created the Citadels, the floating heavens that illuminated the world of Savro with its vast beauty. Becoming complacent in their comfort they demanded that servants be made for them to accomplish their every whim. With their magic they created their ‘servants’.”

“An origin story?” Navida whispered as Tris continued to read the Force.

“This magic might refer to genetic engineering. Advanced science is often mistaken for magic.” Thrawn murmured as they continued to listen.

“The Prisia studied their history to develop the traits they most desired in their creations. These servants would know no violence, they would know no hostility. Their main goal would be to serve their creators to the best of their abilities without question.”

“That’s……. That’s……. Barbaric!” Navida clenched her fists. “What civilization creates an entirely new race of living beings only to enslave them?!”

“The Prisia were content with their new servants, so much so that they kept demanding more from them, working them to the bone.” Tris told them. “Many servants who displeased their creators were disposed of until an extremely powerful Prisia objected to their treatment. The name of this being was Haliha, a Prisia of low-born birth. Many young servants were whisked away from the Citadels by this being to the safety of the world below that the other Prisia refused to tread upon. Haliha made them promise not to leave the caverns until the Great Disaster had passed.”

“Great Disaster?” Thrawn asked as he was deep in thought.

“Ssshhhh” Navida shushed as she was listening intently.

“Haliha had foreseen the future of his people. An event that almost no one could have predicted. The Prisia, focusing all their magic on their luxury and comfort did not wish to heed the warnings of Haliha. They did not wish to tread upon the world that they came from anymore to seek shelter, preferring the floating cities to the humid world.” Tris stated. “It was their end, beings that lived for eons, wiped out in an instant.” Tris spoke as he came out of his trance.

“Well!! What was this disaster?!” Navida asked, frantically gripping his shoulders and shaking the Force user. “You can’t just stop there! Tell me!!”

“Complete polar reversal.” Thrawn interrupted as he pointed to a large painting in the middle of the wall.

“Say what now?” Navida asked as Tris stood up.

“These paintings depict it. Megafloods raced around the planet it would seem.” Thrown gestured. “The polar reversal would have also had a severe impact on the Prisia’s technology. It seems their massive floating cities crashed into the planet.”

“Presumably killing everyone on board.” Tris finished.

“Wait, I just don’t get it.” Navida mumbled. “I can see a polar reversal causing planet-wide floods but how did the cities fall?”

“It has to do with another aspect of the reversal sadly.” Thrawn explained. “It is likely that the magnetosphere of the planet was severely distorted by this reversal allowing the solar flares to reach the cities that would have most likely been protected otherwise.”

“And it seemed the flooding didn’t reach the caves that Haliha hid the younglings in.” Navida pointed to a painting of a mountain only partially submerged. “I wonder how he even predicted it.”

“It was likely that he was Force-sensitive.” Tris mumbled. “Precognition is rare but it could manifest.”

“So it can be safe to conclude that these people are the descendants of the survivors.” Thrawn stated. “They must have deified Haliha through their stories and made him some type of protector.”

“Guys!!!” Navida said trying to get their attention. “GUYS!!” She shouted again and then pointed to something she noticed on a wall much farther away. “I don’t think Haliha was the only one that could see the future.”

“And what makes you conclude that?” Thrawn asked as they walked over. Navida pointed at a large mural causing both of the men and the droid to stop in there tracks. There on the wall, painted in bright colors, was a very real likeness of the group.

“Why do we always land in these situations?” Tris asked as he looked at the mural.


	15. Chapter 15

**Savro part 6**

“This can’t be real can it?” Navida whispered as she held her torch raised. “This place is ancient. How….. who,...... what?!” She gestured to the mural and then looked at the others. Thrawn was as silent and stoic as ever and even Tris didn’t seem that fazed. “How can you guys be this calm?!”

“Well, Thrawn over here is probably analyzing every minute detail, and to be perfectly honest, this is probably the least weirdest thing that I’ve come across.”

“I’m afraid to ask what the weirdest thing is.” Navida mumbled.

“A Sith Lord trying to use eating utensils that weren't designed for hands.” Tris told her bluntly as he remembered Dagur trying out some strange contraption. Navida raised a brow as she muttered something about crazy Sith Lords before turning back to the mural.

“It’s still creepy to see yourself painted on an ancient mural. I thought that it might have been a just likeness but even your lightsabers have been painted on this as well as my tattoo.” She stated while gesturing towards the small tattoo on her arm and the one on the mural.

“I don’t see any other paintings around here that would explain this one.” Tris mumbled as he looked around. “Maybe this future wasn’t set in stone? Pun not intended.” He quickly added upon seeing her smirk. “I’m willing to bet that this has something to do with those pirates.” C1 beeped a few times causing the group to look at the droid that was trying to get their attention. The droid’s small mechanical arms pointed towards the now darkened corner they had come from. Tris held up his torch to see three of the village women doing a terrible job of hiding around the corner. The Lothcat yawned lazily as Tris and the others approached the women.

The village women were clearly nervous. Navida observed one wringing her fingers while another fidgeted. The third didn’t make eye contact.

“Haliha” one of the women said and Tris recognized her as the woman that had shoved the baby in his arms. Her hands unclasped to reveal a black ornament. It was shaped like some type of flower set upon a slender stick. The ornament had a glossy black finish. Tris assumed that someone must have loved this ornament and took great care of it. For a minute he didn’t know what to when the woman was presenting it to him. “You might want to accept it.” Thrawn advised him. “Not doing so might give the idea that they have displeased you.”

Tris reluctantly accepted the ornament and his brow was raised when the woman, now more enthusiastic, gestured to his hair. He looked at the ornament in his hand and then at her gesturing. It was Navida who figured out what it was for. “Oh!” the blue Twi’lek exclaimed as she carefully took the ornament with one hand and then Tris’s long auburn locks with the other. She twisted his hair into a bun before inserting the black flower to keep it tied up. “It’s a hair ornament!”

The women seemed pleased and then they gestured for the group to follow them. “We really have to find a way to tell these people that we aren’t gods.” Tris whispered to both Navida and Thrawn.

“True” Thrawn replied before adding “but we don’t know if this worship now is as a thank you for saving their children or because they still believe that we’re gods.”

“I think Tris has more to worry about. Us two might just be seen as helpers.”

“That is quite possible.” Thrawn mused as they got outside. “Now I’m leaning towards the latter.” He stated as he saw the villagers prostrate themselves as they emerged from the dilapidated tower. Now that he knew a bit of the history of these people he speculated that these towers most likely are the leftover ruins of the cities that fell from the sky. “However I would refrain from outright telling these people.”

“Why not?” Navida asked as several villagers approached them. They held trays of drinks and bowls of food and gestured for them to follow.

“Because even if they might not know hostility or violence we might end up as sacrifices.” Thrawn explained as Tris and they were separated.

“Hey now!” Tris exclaimed as the villagers enthusiastically tugged him to one of the huts while C1, Navida and Thrawn were led to the gathering crowd that appeared to be laying food on low tables. There seemed to be a sturdy wooden table at the front where all the important members of the village sat. Navida and Thrawn were shown to their seats near the middle. They sat down cross-legged and observed the ongoings.

“I hate to bring this up now, but do you think your friend is alright?” Thrawn asked. “He is a former Sith Lord and they are known for their tempers.”

“If you think he’ll get frustrated enough to kill someone villagers than you are mistaken. In the short while that I know him he only seems to kill those who did some serious wrongs even if he doesn’t like to admit it.” Navida stated. “He might seem like the big bad Dark Force user who kills anyone who annoys him but he’s a softy at heart. Those kids wouldn’t have been playing with him if it weren’t true.”

“If what wasn’t true?” They heard from behind them and turned. Navida gasped at the sight of Tris while Thrawn merely raised a brow. Both wondered if the Chiss would ever show his emotions on his face. “Do I look ridiculous?”

“NO!” Both said simultaneously. Navida didn’t hide that fact that she was blatantly staring at Tris. Gone was the blanket that he had wrapped around himself. In its stead was a robe of rich purple hues interwoven with black embroidery. The robe was slightly based on the one Tris had worn on Skaovis but his shoulders were bare. The sleeves of the robe were fastened to glossy black armbands encircling his biceps while the sides of the robes held clips for his lightsabers. His hair was also done up into a better bun with the flower ornament fastened securely. Around his neck was a simple necklace that held a black jewel. “I think I know what a Corasanti dress up doll feels like now.” he mumbled as he sat down at the table. The long sleeves that had looked like one piece of cloth easily fluttered open to show his bare arms. “It’s even weirder that these clothes fit me perfectly and are made for easy movement.”

“What do you mean?” Navida asked as she tried not to react to how good Tris looked in those clothes.

“These are obviously ceremonial clothes but if I need to fight or defend then I could easily move and reach for my sabers.” Tris explained as he gestured to the clips his sabers had been hung on. Drums began to play to the side catching their attention. Food was being served as one of the elders at the table said something to the people gathered there. The group was momentarily distracted by the cheering of the crowd and then the following dinner. Surprisingly it was Thrawn that was the attention of the children this time.

“I leave you alone one time with children and they are already attached to you like magnets.” Navida joked.

“They do tend to grow on you.” Tris remarked as one of the children was using his lap as a chair while clapping along with the music. Tris let out a squeak of surprise when he was tugged into the dancing throng of villagers by the women that had met them in the underground chamber. Many looked more at ease now as they partied. Navida was watching Tris try to dance as many of the villagers laughed at his attempts.

“You know, you should tell him how you feel.” Came from beside her. She looked to see Thrawn try to unhook a very eager little girl from his arm.

“Tell him what?” Navida asked even as she willed her blush to not manifest.

“That you are developing feelings for him.” Thrawn stated. “You glare at those women so hard that it’s obvious.”

“I’m not!” She exclaimed but Thrawn pinned her with a look that told her he didn’t believe her. “When did you find out?” She finally mumbled.

“The glances you give him aren’t as hidden as you think.” Thrawn told her. “It’s surprising how he can be so adept at using the Force yet so oblivious to your developing feelings.”

“It’s not like I wanted to fall for him.” Navida muttered. “At first he was just going to help me find my brother. Then he saved my life and we somehow stuck to traveling together.”

“Space is a lonely place Navida.” Thrawn spoke evenly. “There aren’t many that find happiness. I would suggest you evaluate your feelings. I doubt he’s going to stay this oblivious.”

“That would probably be the scariest part.” Navida whispered so low that Thrawn didn’t hear her.


	16. Chapter 16

**Savro part 7**

_Wind whooshed past Tris, making his auburn locks flit about, as he opened his eyes. He was once again in a dark void. The Force vision giving him no clue what was supposed to happen._

_“Darkness, is this truly what you want to show me?” Tris huffed aloud at no one in particular. “You know you can be a bit more direct right?” He then grumbled. “I do so love playing charades with a metaphysical entity.”_

_Tris suddenly found himself falling again as if the Force had heard his sarcasm. Light bloomed and suddenly he was standing on the surface of a moon. But in_ reality _it would have been impossible since the moon had no atmosphere. Above him stood a dark planet with tendrils of green lightning shooting along its atmosphere. Tris scrunched up his nose as he felt the dark side of the Force envelop the planet. A familiar fear began to settle in his gut. It was the same fear he felt at the chasm._

 _“This planet is unnatural.” He whispered as he looked at the stormy dark clouds encircling the planet. A planet that he could feel had been hospitable and in tune with the Force. It felt like a dark hunger floated through the air, seeking anything filled with the Force to suck dry. Tris gave an involuntary shiver as the scenery changed. He next found himself on the planet itself if the darkened sky and the eerie black clouds were any_ indication _. Tris was on a cliff that overlooked a desolate landscape. No buildings stood, nor trees. A sharp scream jerked him out of his thoughts as his head turned in the direction of the sound. Quickly making his way from the cliff he walked through the grey sand of this world until he came to the source of the scream. There huddled in a corner of a rock formation a disfigured humanoid covered in dust and grime was shouting its lungs out as a dark figure stood over it with an arm outstretched._

_Tris’s eyes widened when he saw the dark figure literally suck the life force from the terrified humanoid. He couldn’t help but let out a gasp as what he saw couldn’t have been possible. That gasp, however, drew the attention of the dark cloaked figure._

_Tris took a step back as the figure turned. He was cloaked in black with the exception of a white mask that had two red stripes on it. The figure outstretched his gloved hand and Tris felt as if his life was being drawn into a void. He clutched at his neck as his breath became labored while the cloaked figure started walking up to him. Once there was almost no space left between them he heard the man say in a low monotone voice “Satisfy my hunger…………”_

Tris bolted up from where he had fallen asleep with a shout, startling not only the Lothcat that had been sleeping on his head again but also the room’s other occupants. The cat gave Tris an angry hiss before kneading the blankets next to him and curling up. Navida had nearly tumbled out of the narrow cot she had been sleeping in, and still bleary from the party that the villagers had thrown, she looked at Tris with slightly unfocused eyes and blaster in hand. “Who do I kill?!” She asked as she looked around the dark room.

“What is going on?” Thrawn asked as he also had been awoken. When he saw Navida with the blaster he told her to put it down.

“Don’t worry, the safety is on.” Navida stated as she placed the blaster back beside her cot before turning to Tris. “Why were you shouting?”

“Force vision.” Tris hissed as he tried to stop his hands from shaking. It had felt so real.

“Was it the same type you had when you woke up after Skaovis?” Navida asked worriedly. Tris nodded but said nothing yet. “What are these Force visions about anyways?”

“Darkness, all-consuming darkness.” tris whispered as C1 also rolled towards them in worry. The droid gave a soft beep. “I’m fine C1, don’t go into mother hen mode.” That caused the droid to give an indigent chirp.  
“Why are you even getting these visions?” Navida asked now.

“I think the Force is sending out a warning of what’s to come. Something that we might have to stop. If that is even possible from what I’ve seen.”

“If??!” Thrawn now asked.

“I’m not sure that it or rather he can be stopped.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because this thing supposedly feeds on the Force itself.” Tris explained. “And I think the Force is scared. Genuinely scared that this creature will come to be. The balance is slowly tilting towards the Dark side.”

“Tris can you tell me a bit about your vision?” Thrawn asked. “There might be something you missed.”

Tris closed his eyes and thought back. “It was a planet this time. I believe it only had one moon. But the planet was so unnatural.”

C1 beeped in confusion. “Yes a planet can be unnatural.” Tris told the droid. “The sun did not shine on the surface anymore, gorges and cliffs littered a barren landscape. Dark clouds covered the sky and lightning flashed continuously.” Tris was silent for a moment. He pursed his lips before uttering the next sentence “While the landscape was barren I could feel the Force signature of billions screaming out in agony. It was more like an echo, something that had long since passed.”

“In all my studies of various cultures I have only come across a few that had planet-wide cataclysms.” Thrawn mused while in thought. “I think you might be speaking of Malachor V.”

“You know the planet?” Navida asked as tris gave the Chiss a surprised look.

“I know a legend.” Thrawn stated. “The story was passed down by the Mandalorians.”

“What legend exactly?” Tris asked.  
“The legend of Darth Nihilus.” Thrawn told the room bluntly.

“I thought you said this was from the Mandalorians.” Navida asked. “Darth is a Sith title.”

“Yes, the story goes that four thousand years ago near the end of the Mandalorian wars, the Galactic Republic that they opposed had built a superweapon. The weapon was fired at Malachor V causing the gravity to crush everything in and around its atmosphere. It is said that the surface was crushed, but there were few survivors. One of them was the man who would become Darth Nihilus.”

“There isn’t much information about Darth Nihilus himself but if this is the threat that the Force was warning me about then it will be very bad if he’s unleashed.” Tris muttered. “Amongst the Sith his name is whispered about and with great caution.”

Tris was fiddling with his hair while trying to think about the situation when a horn sounded in the distance followed by frantic screaming not soon after.

“What the kriff?!” He shouted as the gang ran outside. At first they didn’t see what had gotten the villagers so worked up. The sun wasn’t even up yet.

“Over there!” Navida pointed towards something in the jungle. Tris narrowed his eyes as he noticed an orange glow in the distance. His eyes widened when several explosions rocked through the forest.

“Oh kriff someone is purposely setting the jungle on fire!” He exclaimed as the flames rose above the canopy.


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: Sorry for the wait everyone. I had a bit of writers block during this chapter.**

**Savro part 8**

The flames were growing in intensity with each explosion that rocked the canopy. The gang made their way down the tower to see fearful villagers all watching the blaze getting nearer. More people came running out of the jungle as well.

“Did the village have this many?” Navida asked, surprised to see more villagers than those she had seen at the party.

“There might have been more settlements nearby.” Thrawn hypothesized as smoke started filling the air.

“That fire is going to engulf the entire village and probably the entire forest.” Navida observed as she looked around with worry. Villagers who had been merry just a few hours ago were now clutching their young close and huddled near the square. “Isn’t there anything we can do for them? I don’t think they’ve ever seen a forest fire like this.”

“What could we possibly do?” Tris asked. “The smoke will kill them before the fire if this goes on.”

“Can’t you use the Force or something?” She asked a little frantic now as several huge flames could be seen over the canopy.

“The Force doesn’t work like that.” Tris muttered as his fists clenched. He saw several of the village children staring at him with wide pleading eyes.

“Then what good is the Force then?” Navida asked as she covered her nose as the smoke was getting thicker.

“I can’t just wave my hand and use it on the fire to sto-” Tris stopped mid-sentence as an idea hit him. “Navida, I want you and Thrawn to take these people in the direction of our ship before this village is encircled by flames.” He suddenly said.

“What are you planning?” Thrawn asked with some curiosity.

“There is a ridge near where the ship landed. They should be safer on higher ground.”

“But what are you planning.” Navida hissed as she grabbed Tris’ robe.

“I think I might have a way to douse these flames but I’ll need everyone to clear out.” He answered.

Navida looked Tris right in the eyes “If you do something stupid……”

“No, but I’ll probably do something crazy.” He answered with a smirk. “Now get these people out of here. I’m counting on you two.”

“Just be careful.” Navida said in a low whisper but she was sure Tris caught it as he gave her a small nod. Soon, and with some difficulty, both Thrawn and her began leading the villagers away. Since they didn’t seem to be able to speak the same language they had to rely on hand gestures and hope that the message came across.

The fires had drawn awfully close to the village when the last of the native people had evacuated. Navida shot Tris a glance before he too disappeared in thick jungle opposite to her. “You better be careful.” She whispered, watching him go, before she too followed the throng of people.

Tris sprinted and jumped over fallen logs, while avoiding most of the fire. He had been there the day after he landed, a lake in the middle of the jungle. It was a serene place and he hoped that it would give him the tools he needed. ‘How could I have been so stupid.’ he thought to himself as he remembered old aspects about the Force that his mentor had drilled into him. For some reason he just couldn’t let these people die. He might not think of himself as a Sith anymore, and most assuredly not even as a Jedi, but he had his own set of morals. These people did nothing to him or his friends. Yes, he was calling Thrawn and Navida his friends. Screw the Force-teachings of no attachments. He was doing this for his friends and the natives that had welcomed them into their homes.

Tris skidded to a halt when he came to his destination, nearly tripping over an old moss-covered log. The lake was large and nearly circular. From this planet’s history he had no doubt that it was something man-made that had been filled up with water over the centuries. Taking a deep breath he sat crossed-legged on the shore even with the inferno that was nearing him.

“You got this” He mumbled to himself as sweat started forming on his forehead from the heat while he started to concentrate. Singularly he wasn’t strong enough to stop the blaze, but he didn’t need to be. The Living Force was in every organism on this planet and it damn well better help him after sending him those Force visions.

With his eyes closed he sank into a trance as the inferno was getting nearer. Connecting with the living Force was more difficult than he expected since the fire was continuously destroying it. He could feel the Force of the planet swirling and welcoming him, yet also shrinking back as the fire consumed it. “Let me help you.” he whispered as he outstretched his hand. “Lend me the power to help you.” He added as he felt tendrils of the Force sweep along him, slipping between his fingers assessing him to the very core of his being. The power suddenly poured into him and Tris’ eyes snapped open. He could feel the living essence of the planet, every tree, animal, flower, fish and more. He gasped from these new sensations as he sank further into the Force. He could feel the things the Force felt, life blossoming, it departing, the sway of the trees and the heat of the consuming fire. Using his boosted power Tris focused on the water of the lake, the droplets in the streams, and even in the air, among the clouds and even from the dew upon the leaves.

In reality Tris was floating a few inches off the ground, the water of the lake behind him turning violent and swirling before being lifted up in the air as long vines. Still keeping his eyes closed and concentrating Tris stretched out his arm, sending the water that the planet offered to him towards the fires that were consuming its life. Huge torrents of waves washed through the forest, not enough to knock down any trees but it quieted the blaze that the pirates had set with great effectivity.

“Holy Kriff!” Navida said breathlessly as she and the villagers stood upon the ridge overlooking the forest. Many, while safe were lamenting the loss of their villages. It was only when a child shouted out in surprise and pointed towards the horizon that Navida saw what Tris was doing. The large tentacles of water flowed above and through the canopy. The trees bent willingly to its power as it wove through. Soon only a black scar of ash was left where the fire had marred. Nearly everyone stood there in utter silence as the fires were doused before breaking into a raucous uproar of cheers. “You never cease to surprise me.” Navida whispered as a smile adorned her face. The tendrils of water slowly retreated back to their source and Navida looked at Thrawn “Can you look after these people?” She asked. “I want to go check on Tris.” While relieved that the fires were out she still felt the hairs on her neck prickle. C1 and the Lothcat wanted to follow but she stopped them with a gesture.

Meanwhile, Tris had just come out of his trance and he tried to stand up only to collapse back onto the ground. He gasped as he felt the brunt of the power he had used. His knees felt weak, his hands were trembling, and he had no doubt that he could not hold a lightsaber properly at this moment. ‘Cause and consequence’ he muttered as he tried to catch his breath. This was what happened to a human body when they try to channel the Force of a whole planet through them. He just hoped that nothing would go wrong now. A soft crunch on the ground and someone saying gleefully “Well looky what we have here boys!” caused Tris to groan. He wished that he could at least kick the men that hauled him up but his legs wouldn’t work yet.

“Well Alvin will be pleased to see you.” A third pirate chuckled as he got too close for Tris’ liking. Alcohol-reeking breath washed over him causing him to turn his head. His auburn mop of hair moved causing his red colored eye to become visible. The pirate smiled quite gleefully when he too noticed it. “Ah yes, Alvin will be very pleased with you.”

Tris wasn’t so worried what the pirates would do with him now that they caught him and handcuffed him in stuncuffs. Not even when an Ysalimir was placed on his chest to keep him from using the Force. The small furry lizard hissed at him but all he could think of was how Navida would react. Worst case……. She would kill him.


	18. Chapter 18

**Savro part 9**

The ride to the pirate base was not smooth. The hovercrafts went over fallen and burn logs causing Tris and the other people they captured to jolt in the cages. They had placed him in a separate cage from their other captives. ‘Probably stragglers that had been fleeing the fires.’ Tris assumed as he managed to glimpse at them. He wasn’t too thrilled about the Ysalamir that had been placed on his chest either because he couldn’t use the Force to sense his surroundings our the mental state of the pirates. They had been a bit wiser this time and had even taken his lightsabers.

Tris was still weak but he’d managed to get a good look at the pirate’s base of operations. As he had assumed it was heavily camouflaged. The ship was huge and there were cages of Ysalamirs all around it. ‘Someone was paranoid.’ He guessed as he and the captured natives were dragged out of the cages attached to the hovercrafts.

“What’s all this?!” A gruff voice shouted. Tris watched as a burly man with a grizzly brown beard emerged from the ship. “What’s all the commotion?!”

“Boss!” Several of the pirates greeted and Tris assumed that this must have been the Alvin they were talking about. “We brought back a boon boss!” One of the men said and gestured to the captives. Their boss took one look before cuffing the man on the back of the head. “Who told ya to bring back any survivors! I told ya to burn the place down!” Their boss shouted.

“But Alvin, they could still fetch a high price!” The man that had been cuffed reasoned. “We even got the one that put out the forest fire.”

“WHAT!” Alvin’s voice got higher. The burly man then looked at where his underling was pointing and blanched upon seeing Tris staring back at him. “YOU!” He shouted as he approached Tris. “Why are you here??!”

Tris for his part was confused. He’d never met this man before. He was still being restrained by two of the pirates and was still physically weak but he was sure he didn’t know this man. As he looked up at Alvin his auburn hair covering his red eye parted. “Wait, you aren’t him.” Tris heard Alvin mutter upon noticing his different colored eyes and then something hit him. Hiccup, that goody-goody-two-shoes of an original, must have been the one to piss this pirate off. It would explain the amount of Ysalamirs.

“Take them all to the brig!” Alvin ordered before walking back inside. Tris and the other captives were herded into the bowels of the ship. When they reached the brig they were roughly shoved inside. Tris still in shackles nearly stumbled if not for one of the natives catching him. The grey humanoid steadied him as the cell doors closed behind them. Tris inclined his head to thank the man and noticed that the other natives were all watching him with curiosity and awe. ‘Were they in the area when he was dousing the flames?’ Tris wondered as he leaned against a wall to get a better look at his surroundings. He knew that there might have been stragglers of those fleeing the settlements but he never thought it would be this many. ‘Or had the pirates attacked other villages before they set the jungle on fire?’ He mused since beside the elderly and children there was also a large group of fit women and men present. Someone shouted in shock and awe from a cell opposite to him which jolted him out of his musings and caught his attention. He hadn’t seen them previously but the cell across from him housed several individuals, most definitely human, dressed in dark robes. Those men eyeing him caused the hairs on his neck to stand up.

One of the men in dark tattered robes approached the bars and touched them only to be electrocuted. The scream of pain did nothing to deter the man however as he looked at Tris with adoration.

“This is getting freaky.’ Tris muttered unnerved as he couldn’t use his Force powers due to the Ysalamir in the room to asses the situation. He hated being without feeling the Force connections. It was so foreign to him yet at the same time he wondered how non-sensitive beings could function like this. Not feeling the Force was tantamount to having one of his senses cut off.

“Y…..You’re a Sithlord aren’t you?” The man that had been slightly electrocuted asked Tris with shock, awe, and subservience in his voice. It threw the clone off slightly as he wasn’t used to this type of behaviour. Normally when people hear the word Sithlord they run in the opposite direction. “Have you come to save us?!”

“I don’t even know you.” Tris muttered when the man managed to stir the curiosity in the rest of those imprisoned with him. All of those in the cell opposite to him wore the same type of clothing. Tris assumed that they had been captured together and were part of some organization.

“We serve the Sith. We revere the Sith. The Sith are wise in all worldly aspects.” The prisoners said in unison and immediately Tris understood who these people were. He had heard stories from Dagur and Camicazi before they sold him out about Sith cults that were established through the centuries. Cults of non-sensitive humans coming together to worship the Sith in hopes that they would be blessed with Force powers. Fanatics, the lot of them. Many of these cults were often taken advantage of by the Sithlords and used either in experiments of Sith-alchemy or as cannon fodder. Tris did wonder though how they managed to deduce that he had been a Sith at one point. Was it just luck, or did something give it away in his stance. Was it the presence of so many Ysalamir or maybe it was even fanatical hope these people had while being locked up here. And that begged another question. “Why are you people here?” He asked the man that had called out to him.

“Your Eminence, we have done you a great discourtesy.” The man stated. “We thank you for your concern for us. It is more than the Sith have ever shown their followers.” Tris ignored the groveling and asked again “Why are you here?”

“Forgive us for our negligence.” The man stated as he gave a short bow even in his obviously battered state. “We had just completed our mission on Volik when two pirate ships ambushed us. They boarded us and we were taken prisoner to this world. Our leader was taken from us and we have not heard from him since.”

‘Now for the most telling questions.’ Tris mentally mused while he asked “What Sith cult do you belong to? What was your mission?”

“You do not serve his Greatness?” Another of the cultists asked confused. “Where you not sent by him?”

“Sith Lords do not serve anyone but themselves.” Tris growled as he was momentarily insulted. He did not know what the individuals in the Unknown Regions thought of the Sith but to suggest that he’d bow his head to another was most possibly the worst insult ever.

“F….Forgive us.” The men shrank back. “We meant no disrespect.” the cultist quickly backtracked. “It is just, we have seen Dark Force users in his employ before.”

“What?!” Came out of Tris’ mouth before he could stop himself. Where these people actually suggesting that there was some wanna-be Sith out in the region who had other Force users under him. He supposed there might be such a possibility as he eyed the men. A Master with multiple apprentices. ‘The rule of two’ had only been established by the Sith king to stop the power plays of the Sith. “Who is this Dark Force user you speak of?”

“Please do not be angry with us.” One of the men uttered. “We don’t know his name. All we know is that he commands the Force users who call themselves the Knights of Ren. Our leader is the one who has spoken with him directly but even he fears to utter the name.”

“And what was your mission on Volik?” Tris asked. He let the other matter drop for now.

“We were supposed to retrieve a certain Sith artifact and deliver it to one of his knights.” The men told him. “The journey itself was dangerous. The faint of heart perished when we retrieved the artifact.”

“Where is this artifact now?”

“The pirate leader has it.” The man told him. “We fear he may open the box that contains it.”

“And that would be bad?” Tris now asked.

“We were given one warning when the leader received this mission. Never to open the box.”

“Well isn’t that just dandy.” A female voice stated as the doors to the brig whooshed open. Tris looked in that direction to see Navida standing in the doorway holding two smoking blasters. “Here I am shooting pirates and creepy salamanders left and right while you’re all cozy in a cell.” She huffed.

Tris actually cracked a smile at Navida’s sass as she set about freeing him. She shot the Ysalamir near his cell bringing his force-sensitivity back. Tris held his head as he was swamped with the sudden Force and the various emotions within the room. Then the hairs on the back of his neck prickled and he sensed a feeling so dark that it made him gasp.

“What’s wrong?” Navida asked as she opened the cell doors. Tris merely looked at her as there were no words for the darkness he was feeling right now.


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: I AM SO TERRIBLY SORRY!!! I was working on the Eternal Valkyrie series and completely forgot I still had some chapters to do on this.**

**Savro part 10**

Tris rushed through the large pirate ship at great speed while using one of Navida’s blasters to deal with any Ysalamirs he might encounter along the way. The more lizards he eliminated the more he felt the dark presence throughout the ship. It was rather stifling and Tris had to adjust his breathing to advance. The presence was one he had felt before. In his Force vision. Somehow Darth Nihilus’ Force signature was aboard this ship. He was glad that he’d send Navida along with the captives back. If this was indeed the Force eating Sithlord then he wanted her nowhere near here.

Tris still hadn’t found his lightsabers but he supposed that they would be in the hands of the pirate leader. At least the activation button was on the inside so no one could poke an eye out.

The further into the ship’s bowels Tris went, the eerier it became. He had expected to be shooting several guards by now but the corridors were quiet. “Where is everybody?” He asked aloud. Even if he didn’t want to get caught, the lack of gruff impolite pirates set him on edge more. Tris stopped when he reached a set of metal double doors. The stench of darkness seemed to be the strongest here. A feeling washed over Tris urging him to head through the doors even as his hairs were standing on edge. It took him standing in front of the door for several seconds before he figured out what that feeling was.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” He muttered as recognized the feeling from his visions. “What is the Force doing here?” He then backtracked “Okay, that was a stupid question. The Force is in everything.” He muttered. It was still odd though for this entity to be so ‘talkative’ now.

“You know this might not end well.” Tris whispered and the Force sent out a feeling of warmth as if in reassurance.

“I only have this blaster you know.” He added. Again the same warm feeling washed over him, it was a feeling of security, like there was a protective blanket wrapped around him. Tris did the only thing he could do in this situation. He shrugged and took the metaphysical entity contacting him as a normal occurrence even though it wasn’t. The door wouldn’t open automatically and so Tris exerted the Force to unlock it. A plasma bolt sailed over his head immediately when the doors opened causing Tris to duck and roll to the side. More plasma bolts followed as someone inside finally yelled “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!”

Tris took a chance to peek into the room and what he saw surprised him. He had assumed right that the room was the Mess hall but what surprised him more was what was going on in there. The tables and chairs had been pushed to the far back and in the middle of the room on the floor lay an intricate diagram, drawn in blood. The blood came from several corpses strewn on the floor, one of them being the leader of the pirates he had come across not so long ago.

“Lower your weapons!” Tris called but a smug voice answered back.

“Or what?” The man that answered him asked smugly. “You’re outnumbered.” Tris then used the force to yank all the blasters in the room out the door he was crouched against. He could hear several shouts of astonishment as the blasters assembled in a pile near his feet. He then picked up one from the pile and held both trained on the men in the room. “And you’re outgunned now.” He quipped back. Now that he got a better look in the room and at the dead bodies he noticed that they were all pirates, included amongst them was the pirate leader Alvin. He recognized some of the symbols on the floor as being part of Sith alchemy.

“No honor amongst thieves huh?” Tris asked the man that stood glowering at him. He assumed it was Alvin’s second in command.

“You did not tell me you had a Sith on board!” A robed man suddenly hissed as he approached from the back and Tris wondered why everyone jumped to the conclusion that he was a Sith. Granted he found it an insult to be called a Jedi, but still. The robed man jabbed an accusing finger at the pirate while shouting “If I knew I would have offered him this great honor instead!” To which the pirate responded by grabbing the man by his robes and punching him in the gut. “Don’t ya dare go back on your word!”

The robed figure crumbled to the floor and Tris had had about enough. “Okay, I am just going to kill you guys now.” He told them as he raised the blasters. It felt odd using guns and he couldn’t snap so many necks at once with the Force. He’d much prefer to cut them with his saber.

“Wait, wait, wait!” The robed man frantically called out from his position on the floor to stop Tris. “The ritual has been completed! The Devourer shall arrive!” Tris’s eyes widened and he looked around in confusion. The robed man stood up and grabbed a case from the floor on which the bloody diagram had been drawn. “Look your Eminence. Take this and release your brother.”

Tris got a sour look on his face at being even remotely compared to the monster that was Darth Nihilus and wondered how the Sithlord could even fit into such a small case as he felt a scary dark presence emanating from the case.

“What are you doing?!” The pirate scowled and grabbed the case from the robed man. “You promised me the power! I killed for you!” The pirate gestured towards the bodies and Tris noticed something glimmering in the pocket of the pirate captain. ‘MY LIGHTSABERS!’ His mind shouted as he discarded the blasters lightning fast and summoned his sabers towards him. He gripped both handles, activating the red one while clipping the one that had an unchanged Kyber crystal onto his belt. The familiar hum of the saber brought the pirates’ attention back on Tris. They were in the middle of fighting over the case and in that moment Tris didn’t care what either of their plans were, he just felt the burning sensation that whatever was in that case had to be destroyed. So he charged forward and swung the lightsaber, splitting the case in two, much to the horror of those holding each end.

“NOOOO!!” Both men yelled as two parts of a white mask fell out of the broken case. Tris’s swing had hit true and he felt the ‘delight’ of the Force wash over him. ‘So this mask was the cause of all the trouble?’ He mused as he felt the darkness start receding from it.

‘Rather anticlimactic,’ Tris thought as he watched the robed figure eyeing him in horror. He thought it was over too soon and watched in horror as the pirate dived for one of the broken mask pieces.

“No! No no no! It can’t be over!” The man shouted as he grabbed a piece and Tris felt the darkness enveloping the man. “It can’t be over!” The pirate screamed one last time as he was being devoured by black tendrils. The black tendrils expanded seeking sustenance and the pirates nor the robed man was spared from their clutches. Tris erected a Force shield to fend off the tendrils but it wouldn’t hold them for long.

Tris backed out of the room without any other options open to him. If he wanted to live then he had to get off the ship. The dark ominous tendrils didn’t stop with just the living beings in the ship. It started to devour the hull of the vessel as well. He made it out of the ship alive just as the ship was collapsing in on itself. In the center of the destruction stood an ominous shadowy figure.


End file.
